146 SHEEP OF THE UNITED STATES AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



the prairie grass was at all seasons of the year abundant, 

 and consequently, that sheep could be sustained with very 

 little fodder, and generally managed at little cost and trouble. 

 This, however, is fallacious ; and those who have embarked 

 largely in the business, without previously having made the 

 provision of cultivated herbage, have learned that that be- 

 nignant decree of Providence—" by the sweat of thy brow 

 shalt thou eat bread" — cannot be evaded ; or in other lan- 

 guage, that neither wool nor any of the necessaries of life 

 can be procured u-ithout labor. The fulness with which 

 Messrs. Flower and Wight have treated the subject, super- 

 sedes further remarks. 



We will now advert briefly to some of the Southern States 

 where there are large ranges admirably adapted by nature 

 for wool culture. 



The western part of Virginia can already boast of pos- 

 sessing some of the finest wooled sheep in the Union ; and 

 from the nature of the climate, soil, and herbage of portions 

 of that section of the State, it cannot be doubted that they 

 are destined to greatly multiply. It is true, the climate does 

 not permit of any considerable reduction of the time for 

 foddering, compared with Pennsylvania and portions of New 

 York, yet the mountain lands are cheap, and productive of 

 herbage of a varied character, so well suited to sheep. If 

 the natural grasses are not abundant enough, the deficiency 

 can be supplied by sowing from time to time the seed of the 

 cultivated kinds. This course may be necessary in all the 

 mountain ranges of the South, when appropriated to sheep 

 husbandry. Sheep pastured on such elevations, and trans- 

 ported to the warmer atmosphere of the valleys during win- 

 er, cannot but be a source of profit ; and if our Southern 

 riends do not choose to avail themselves of such natural 

 advantages, they may rest assured, that, ere long, they will 

 be wrested from them by the hardy and enterprising sons of 

 the North. 



In large districts of the mountainous portions of North 

 Carolina, sheep can be reared at perhaps as little expense as 

 any section of the United States. The grass peculiar to 

 them, it is stated by some, is not agreeable to sheep ; but this 

 can be remedied in a very brief time by adopting the course 

 above recommended. 



The following extract of a letter from the Hon. T. L. 

 Clingman, of North Carolina, addressed to Mr. J. S. Skin 



