SHEEP HUSBANDRY 



UNITED STATES, 



IN A SERIES OF LETTERS TO R. F. ALLSTON, 



OF SOUTH CAROIINA. 



LETTER L 



EFFECT OF CLIMATE ON THE HEALTH AND WOOL-PRODUCING 

 aUALlTIES OF SHEEP. 



Intioductory Kemai-ks...Wool-Growin;; nnd Manufacturing Statistics of the Southern States compareo 

 With those of New-York. ..Effect of Warm Climates on the Health of Slieep. ..Sheep in the Southern 

 Btates below latitude 3i°. ..Effect of Climate on Wool-Produiang Qualities of Sheep — on the Quantity ol 

 the Wool ... Weight of Fleeces in the Southern Slates indicated by U. S. Census of ]840 — Important Omis< 

 BioDS in that Census — Other important Errors In it. . .Table of Weights of Fleeces in Four Counties where 

 Ihey average highest in each of the Southern States and in New. York — Latitude, Topography and Climate 

 of those Counties... Warmth of Climate conducive to the Production of Wool— Reasons. 



R. F. W. Allston, Esq— 



Dear Sir : That spirit which prompts communities and States to at- 

 tempt to render themselves independent, so far as the supply of physical 

 wants is concerned, of other communities and States, is an eminently 

 proper one, up to certain limits. Beyond these, it degenerates into mere 

 sectional selfishness, as deserving of reprobation in the community as in 

 the individual — nay, more so, for it militates more widely against the in- 

 terests and happiness of mankind. Agriculture supplies the most of our 

 physical wants which are not administered to spontaneously by Nature. 

 In this great department of human labor.it is not difficult to decide how far 

 the inhabitants of each particular region are called upon to rear from the 

 earth what their wants require. Nature herself has, in the distribution of 

 soils and climates, both indicated and limited the production of many of 

 the agricultural staples, by geographical boundaries, sometimes topically 



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