48 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN TIE SOUTH. 



mode of sheep husbandry- Very lar^e flocks might be driven to the mountain region, eooM 

 thirty to sixty miles f. om the rich lands, immediately after shearing time, gi-azed till late ia 

 the fall, and then brought l)ack to be sustained during the winter on the luxuriant blao 

 grass pastures of the rich lands of the interior. 



" A veiy intelligent friend, residing in the southern part of the above distinct of country, 

 tpeaks of it in the following terms : ' One of the strongest proofs of this region of country 

 being favorable to the growing of shee}> stock is that we are situated in the same degree of 

 Borih latirade with the sheep-raising parts ol Spain — Leon, Esti-emadura, Old Castile, &/■.— 

 ocly that nur mountains are more richly and abundantly clad witli luxuriant wild grasses 

 Anil fere, pea vine, and shrubbery, than the mountain regions of Spain, where they raiso 

 rach abundant stocks of sheejt. Wapie County, with a few adjoining counties, affords more 

 fine water-power than any country of the same extent that I have ever known ; and for 

 health, and fine, pure drinking water, no country excels it on the face of the globe. Now is 

 the time to commence the busuiess of sheep husbandry, while land can be got almost for 

 nothing. It is worthy of remark that our sheep, which are suffered to roam and graze iu 

 the mountains altogether, produce about one-fourth more wool at a shearing than iJie sheep 

 that are raised and grazed altogether on our farms, and of much better quality.' In an- 

 other part of his letter he says : ' The tops of the mountains of Spain are sterile, without 

 verdure, producing no food for sheep, or other animals, to graze on. Our mountains are 

 quite different. They are thickly clad from bottom to top, and all over the top, with fine 

 rich vdld grasses and shrubbery of every variety, for stock to graze on. In the midst of 

 our mountains are to be found a great abundance of salt water and stone coal of the finest 

 quality, together with a great variety of muieral waters and pure springs.' 



" Another friend, residing in Knox County, wTites to me : ' My sheep upon my farm, ad- 

 joining BarboursNolle, do not thrive, even with pasture and winter food, like the sheep in 

 the exU-emities of the county, which have neither pastures nor winter food, except what 

 they get in the woods. Without cultivated grasses of any description, sheep will live and 

 do well all the winter, subsisting on the spontaneous gi-owth of the countiy.' 



" Another friend, residing in the northern poition of the above-described mountain region^ 

 writes that ' the counties of Carter and Lawrence, and the eastern portion of the State, are 

 admirably adapted to sheep husbandry. There are several flocks .>f sheep in this neighbor- 

 hood that thrive and increase wonderfully, running at large, at little cost or trouble to their 

 owners. Many flocks have no other rehance, diu-ing the winter, but what they get in the 

 woods. The great advantages of this country for sheep husbandry are, the cheapness of the 

 Und, it adaptiition to grasses, grain, and roots — its healthfulness. Sheep delight in moun- 

 tain or hilly land ; the natural evergi-eens and shnibberj' upon which sheep can feed and 

 ■ubsist on in winter ; though it is not safe to rely altogether upon these. ' " 



Mr. C. F. Kramer of Woolverly Farm, Marion Co. Tennessee, ii» a com- 

 municatiori in the Nashville Agriculturist,* says : 



" After having spent part of the years '43 and '44 on different parts of the Cumberland 

 Mountains — the part of Tennessee more particularly reconnnended by all writers in vour 

 journal, and others, for sheep-walks — I have, since last fall, settled on a portion of them 

 near Jasper, Marion Co. and will, as briefly as possible, give you the result of my experi- 

 ence, which will, I believe, fully remove any eiToneous impressions hitherto made. 



" Fii-st, as to climate; The extreme salubrity of the mountains makes them the general 

 refuge of the sick. Sheep here are remarkably healthy, and exempt fi'om disease. The 

 temperature is very even, varying during summer seldom more than from 75*^ to 80^ of 

 Fahrenheit, nor in winter more than from 45° to 30°. Snow during the two winters, little 

 as there was of it, never remained forty-eight hours on the ground. 



" The forest, so lar from being dense, seldom contains more timber, after cuttii-g out the 

 smaller growth, as dogwood, &c. than is desirable for woodland pasture. 



" The rocks, as far as my rambles have extended, are ' few and far between.' The bet 

 ler spots of soil (and there are enough to provide every farm with sufficient remunerating 

 arable land, under a provident and enlightened system of tillage) are covered with nutri- 

 tious weeds, as pea-vine, &c. &c. which are nearly all greedily devoured by sheep and cat- 

 tle, and on whi(;h they fare well. The poorer soil is covered with sedge-grass, wi lich ra/ 

 gheep have invariably eaten with avidity. 



" When our herds and blue ijrass lands, which we are -aying down, will be fit for pastur- 

 ing, the cost of \\'intering will be greatly reduced, as the former yields good grazing in Feb- 

 ruary — the latter during the whole winter. Our yoimg cattle kept in good condition on the 

 winter-range and two ears of corn per head per day. 



" Although the wolves of our mountains are larger than those of the prairies, and may be 

 more difficult to exterminate entirely, yet, thanks to our good hunters, their ranks have been 

 already so thiimed that they mostly prowl about £.''one, or at most in pairs, connnitting theh* 

 depredations by night, on the sheep and hogs tha are left to shift for tb'-ax^*'lve8. Id tki 



