52 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



LETTER V. 



fftOlflTS OF SHEEP HUSBANLRY IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.— I. DlAECl 

 PROFIT ON CAPITAL INVESTED. 



Different points of view in which the question of the profitahleness of Sheep Husbandry in the Southern 

 StBta* is to be regarded. ..Direct profit on C'Hpital invested first considered. ..Average prices of Wool in 

 New-York. ..Average weight of tieece — I'rice of riheep — Increase in Lambs — Amount of Manure. .^Prico 

 of Land.. .Number of Sheep supported per acre. ..Estimate of the Expenses and Profits of 100 Sheep, 

 inking average prices of Wool for the last fourteen years. ..Present low prices of Sheep— Causes— Esti- 

 mnte^of Profits of 100 Sheep, at present prices of Sheep and Wool. ..Profits far below what they might be 

 by breeding better Sheep. .. Wriler's Flock— Aimual yield of Wool— Prices sold at for si.\ years — Stati8ti«9 

 of Premium Flock... Show that Wool can be produced at a large profit in New-Vork at present prices... 

 Healthfulncss and economy of subsiituiing Muiton for a portion of the Bacon consumerl in the Southern 

 States... Economical advantages which Sheep posse.-s over other animals— No ri^k by Deal h— Manure 

 more valuable— Best clearers of Briery Lands— Improvers of Vegetation. ..The cost of producing Wool in 

 the South, compared with the cost in New-York. ..Number of Sheep which can be supported per acre 

 South— Greater number than on land of the same quality North, by reason of the winter growtb of grains 

 and grasses in the former. ..Col. Allston's statement— R. L. Allen's— Col. Hampton's— Hon. R, F. Simp- 

 eon's in relation to the Atlantic States south of Viiginia. ..Price of Lands in those States. ..Winter Vege- 

 tation in Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia. ..Mr. Coles's statement — John S. Skinner's. ..PLCcapitulation. .. 

 EBtimate of Profits on 100 Slieep South— Compared with New-York ... Profits on the Southern Mountaio* 

 ...Doct. Brockenboro's statements— Mr. Murdock's. ..Economy of Migratory Sheep Husbandry.. -Advan- 

 tnges for it in the South compared with those of Spain. . .Drawbacks on Profits of Sheep Husbandry— 

 Do<»3 and Wolves.. .Their depredations compared with those in Australia and the Cape of Good Hope... 

 Remedy. 



Dear Sir: In ascertaining the Pr(jfits of Sheep Husbandry in the 

 Southern States, several considerations present tliemselves, apart from the 

 mere question of direct annual profit or loss on a given inve.stment in 

 Sheep and in land for their subsistence. The more immediate and obvious 

 profit is doubtless the first question ; but in regarding the general advan- 

 tages or disadvantages of this branch of husbandry — particularly in a re- 

 gion circumstanced in all particulars as the Southera States are — we are 

 farther to consider the practicability and comparative economy of making it 

 the basis of an eifectual amelioration in soils naturally sterile, or those 

 which have been rendered so by excessive and injudicious cultivation ; 

 and its comparative efficacy in giving to Southern Agriculture a mixed 

 and convertible character, and thereby sustaining (or improving) all the 

 present good tillage lands, in the place of continuing the " new and old 

 field " system — (tilling land until it is worn out, then abandoning it and 

 opening new lands,) — once so general, and even now by far too prevalent. 

 A.nd there is another point of no mean importance : whether, independent 

 af preceding considerations, and even if the staples furnished by sheep 

 husbandry proved no more profitable, in direct returns on capital invested, 

 than some of the present staples, it would not be better economy, on the 

 whole, for the South to pi-oduce the raw material and manufacture domes- 

 tis woolens, particularly for the apparel and bedding of slaves, than to be 

 dependent for them on England or Massachusetts. 



To ascertain the direct and immediate profit on investment in sheep hus- 

 bandry, let us appeal to well settled facts and statistics, instead of content' 

 infy ourselves with vague and general propositions. For the following 

 Table of the average prices of good wool* in the State of New- York, which 

 was published in my replies to Mr. Walker's " Treasury Circular " in 



• Such wools as are used for the manufacture of broad and other cloths of sonA quality— ranging, say, 

 from Jih Mood Merino to pure Saxon— excluding native, grade (below ^th Merino) and hU English wool* 



