SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN T iE SOUTH. 47 



tions, Col. Edward Colston, of Berkley county, Virginia, makes the fol- 

 lowing statements : 



" The western part of our county, containing perhaps 30,000 acres, is mountainous. I 

 have rirlilen there for ten miles without seeing a human habitation, and ahhough from ill 

 abundant herbage it might sustain for its owners 20,000 head t)f sheep, not a single one is t« 

 he found grazing on its surface. In this region may be tbimd, also, much land fit for cnlti« 

 \ation, with tine meadows and abundant water. Yet all this is worthless to our community, 

 and a deid capital to the proprietors. There is territory and grass enough here lo be di- 

 vided into three or four sheep-walks, each sustaining from 3.000 to 4,000 sheep auring the 

 Bummer, with meadow and arable land enough, at a small expense, to provide amply for 

 winter sustenance." 



Hon. Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia, in a letter to Mr. Skinner,* says: 



' Virginia has many advantages for breeding sheep, not surpassed in the United States 

 The middle part of the State, and especially the whole range of the south-west Mountains 

 and Blue Ridge, afford the greatest facilities for fine sheep-walks. Hills covered with fine 

 herbage, extensive inclosures, abundance of ruinnng water, and well sheltered by trees 

 agamst the heat and sun of summer." 



The following extracts are from a communication in the Monthly Jour- 

 nal of Agriculture, t by Hon. W. L. Goggin, who recently represented the 

 District he describes in Congress : 



" Bedford, the county in which I reside, is bounded on the south side by the Staunton 

 Eiver, on the north by the .Tames River, while its western extremity, the whole length, 



reaches the top of the Blue Ridge The Peaks of Ottert are situated in this county, 



on the north-west comer — they are not only beautiful themselves, when seen as they are in 

 the. distance, but the whole range of the Blue Ridge presents, perhaps, here, the most inter- 

 esting view of the kind in the State. These mountains afford an unlimited range for stock, 

 and the advantages for sheep-vralks (mild as is the climate, combined with the productive- 

 ness of the soil) that are nowhere equaled, as is beheved, except by similar situations in 



the neighboring counties Ranges for sheep may be had at a very reduced price on 



tlie moimtains, and where, too, could be pj-oduced all the grasses in which they delight, such 

 as the red and white clover, the meadow fox-tail, short blue meadow-grass, luceru, rye-grass, 

 &c. These advantages, and then the beautiful, clear sti-eams which abound in all the moun- 

 tain regions, invite a pastoral life." Speaking of Amherst and Nelson counties, he says : 

 ' The ranges for stock here, too, are extensive, and the beautiful, rich mountain sides inters 

 Bpersed with farm-houses, some of them even elegant mansions, betoken an independence 

 among the inhabitants that is often found in such situations. Many of the mountains, to 

 their very summits, are covered with the richest verdure." Of Madison and Greene coun- 

 ties he says : " Here, too, are abundant ranges, and the wonder is that sheep husbandry is 

 not introduced." 



The character of the loftier mountains of Virginia and North Carolina, 

 for the pi-oduction of grasses, would seem to leave no doubt, in this par- 

 ticular, in regard to the lower ones which form the prolongation of the 

 same chains in South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Let us now turn 

 our glance to the gi-eat western chain — the Cumberland Mountains — in 

 Kentucky and Tennessee. 



The following extracts are from a communication published by Hon. A. 

 Beatty in the American Agricultuiist : 



" But it is not upon our high-priced rich lands alone that we can carry on sheep husbandry 

 to advantage. Kentucky has a belt of hill and mountain country, bordering on the Virg.nia 

 line on the east, and on the rich lands of the State on the west, averaging about sevcnty-fivtt 

 miles in width, extending from the Ohio River and Big Sandy, latitude 38° 30', lo die' Ten- 

 nessee line, 36° 30' north. The whole of this legion is admirably adapted to sheep hus" 

 bandry ; the most northern part but a few minutes north of my residence, and extenling 

 about t^vo degrees farther south. The lands ai-e very cheap : the State price of those not 

 yet appropriated only five cents per acre, and those purchased second-hand, more or less 

 improved, may be had from 2.5 to .50 cents per acre, and still less when unimproved. This 

 countiy in a state of nature fliniishes, during the spring, summer, and fall months, a fine 

 range for sheep, and is susceptible of great improvement by clearing up and sowing the cul 

 tivated grasses for winter leeding. This whole countr}- is finely adapted to the Spaniab 



• Monthly Journal of Ag»kv turp, July, 1S4.5, pp. 37-39. lb October 1845, pp 181-183 



I Hie iDftiest mountains, es 'ofore stated, of Virginia. 



