SHEEP HUSBANDRV IN THE SOLT:!. 



quality ; and these facts farther suggest the expediency of relyirig on out 

 own efllbrts to " protect " this interest, rather than the fickle support of 

 National legislation. 



For the pioduction of a cheap, wholesome, and highly nutritious food, 

 no animal excels the sheep. Theoretical considerations, as well as exper- 

 iment, show the superiority of mutton to pork in the formation of vigor- 

 ous muscle ;* and its tendency is less, particularly in hot climates, to en- 

 gender inflammatory and putrid diseases. The consumption of consiuei- 

 able quajitities of fat is indispensable, in cold climates, to supply the 

 necessary amount of carbon to support " combustion," as Liebig terms it, 

 in the lungs, or, in other words, to maintain the animal heat. Hence the 

 Laplander and the Esquimaux find a grateful diet '\v cram oil or the adi- 

 pose parts of Arctic fish and mammalia. That iViC pork should be the 

 favorite meat, in the Northern States, is not pei'waps cso singular, but that 

 it (under the name of bacon) should constitute Ire principal one consumed 

 in our warm Southern latitudes, and especial)^ tnat it should constitute so 

 large a proportion of all the food consumed, r is indeed a most anomalous 

 fact, and is utterly unparalleled among the practices of other nations occu- 

 pying the same latitudes. The tendency of this practice to produce dis- 

 ease, physical inertia, indisposition and incapacity to sustain continued 

 activity, will not, I think, be questioned by the pathologist or the close 

 observer. 



Mutton and lamb are a favorite, if not the favorite food of the English 

 of all classes. Notwithstanding all that has been said and written of the 

 " roast beef" of " Old England," mutton is more eaten there by people of 

 every rank.| On the other hand, it is evidently not a favorite meat in the 

 United States, though its proportionable consumption is evidently incieas- 

 ing. Whence the difference ] Circumstances have led to habit, and habit, 

 in a great measure, regulates appetite. It needs no other proof than i.s 

 to be found in the experience of every individual, to show that the appt< 

 tite is readily trained to relish what was even positively disgusting, and to 

 become indifferent to what was once the most grateful. 



That the preceding facts ai"e well worthy of attention among those who 

 are favoi-able to the introduction of sheep husbandry, among planters who 

 supply not less than 3 lbs. per week of good bacon, or a full equivalent, to 

 each slave, on plantations where the number ranges from ten to one hun- 

 dred, and sometimes many more, there can be little doubt. Twenty-fivo 

 slaves would thus consume 3,900 lbs. of bacon per annum ; and the more 

 common allowance of the opulent planter is about 200 lbs. per head, o\ 

 5,000 lbs, for twenty-five. If an equivalent fi)r at least half of this was 



• The theoretical considerations will be found sufficiently discussed in Liebii^'s "Animal Chemistry." Fot 

 experimental evidence, I know of none that can be more depended on — which approaches any nearer 

 HCtnal demimstration— than that which is furnished by the Ensjlish piizefijihters. To attain the proper con- 

 dition to sustain the protracted and tremendous exertions of their brutal trade, their flesh must attain the 

 hardness and toughness of whipcord, and they must, at the same time, maintain that physical elasticity 

 (t>>chnically, "corkiness,") which adds agility to iron strength. Those men, while training, are suUered to 

 eat little or no adipose matter, and not even the lean of park. Their animal food is exclusively beef ot 

 mutton, or both. Some trainers prefer the former, some the latter. I have seen this matter very fuliy al- 

 luded to, but do not now remember any more explicit authority than that contained in the following note 

 to Carpenter's Principles of Human Physiology, (p. 357.) 



•• The method of training employed by Jackson, (a celebrated trainer o*" prize-finhters in modem times ) 

 M deduced from his answers to questions put to him by John Bell, was to begin on a clear foundation by 

 •n emetic and two or three purges. Beef and mutton, the lean of fat meat being prefer- ed, constituted tho 

 principal food ; veal, lamb and pork were said to be less digestible (the last purges same men''). Fish 

 was said to be a ' watery kind of diet ;' and is employed by jockeys who wish to reduce weight by sweat- 

 in a." 



f I mean this portion of the remark to apply more particularly to the non-laboring classes. Tho propor- 

 tion consumed by tho slave, though ample, is not e.tcessive, when his laboring habits are taken into con 

 ■ideratiun 



i I state this on the authority of various individuals who have been much in England, and who hnvt 

 Been placed in positions to form a pretty accurate opinion. Mr. Colman speaks of the ■' exlraordinary* 

 eonsumption of mutton in England, without, however, giving «ny comparative dsta. 



