SHEEP HUSBANDRY N THE SOUTH. 57 



made in mutton, it would be far cheaper, and, if I have not erred in previ- 

 ous statements, better for the slave. 



There are two or three other highly favorable considerations to oe takeu 

 into account among the dii'ect profits of rearing sheet). 



The risk by death, by ordinary causes, is nothing. Two per cent, is al- 

 lt>«ved in the preceding estimates, as the full product of wool and increase 

 id carried out. But, in reality, the sheep never dies " insolvent." If the 

 colt or the bullock dies on our hands, after two or three years of trouble 

 and expense with it, the loss is nearly a total one. If the fine-wooled 

 8heep dies at any age, the wool then on it, or what it has already produced, 

 more than covers all the cost which it has ever made us.* 



Not only is the winter manure of the sheep superior to that of any other 

 domestic animal, tlie hog and fowl excepted, but it practically becomes 

 still more so in proportion, in summer, when scattered over the pastures, 

 by reason of the conditions in which it is deposited. The soft porous ex- 

 crements of the cowt or horse, exposed to the exsiccating action of sun and 

 wind, evolve most of their fertilizing properties into the atmosphere, and 

 ihis effect would increase in proportion to the warmth of the climate. The 

 excrements of the sheep, on the other hand, are deposited in small, hard, 

 rounded ])ellets, which fall down between the leaves of the grass, and are 

 thus in a great measure protected from the sun and wind, until they are 

 trodden into and incorporated with the soil.| Then, again, they need no 

 8preading,|| like the dung of the horse and cow. And finally, instinct, in 

 leading the sheep almost invariably to seek the summits of the elevations, 

 in warm weather, for its night quarters, leads it to deposit much more ma- 

 nure in proportion, where it is most needed, on the drier and more barren 

 hill-tops ; and where, being more remote from water-courses, less of its 

 juices are liable to be washed away by rains, into the streams, or on to the 

 lands of others. 



Sheep are also far more efficient than any other animal (if we except 

 the worthless goat) in clearing up new hinds, or neglected old ones, ot 

 those briers and shrubs which it is often difficult to eradicate without plow- 

 ing ; and they often abound on lands which cannot be jilowed with profit. 

 And, when plowed, the shrubs in the fence corners must be left (to the 

 utter shame of all good husbandry), or tlie fence must be removed — some- 

 times at a, gieat inconvenience. The sheep delights to browse on the buds, 

 and to strip the bark of most sla-ubs,§ and they thus soon destroy them. 1 

 would be good economy for the farmer to keep his neighbrirs' sheep, with- 

 out charge, on all very briery or cojipiced unarable lands, if he could not 

 wO stock them himself 



Finally, it is generally believed by experienced flock-masters — and ob- 

 servation has led me to fully coincide in the opinion — that sheep not only 

 improve the lands they depasture more thaii any other animal, but that 

 they exert an almost specific influence in improving f//c cltaracter of th* 

 vegetation. All wild, pcjor grasses gradually disappear from their pasture? 



* I speak, of course, of the rost of reaiins and feeding. 



t Gazzeri found that 100 parts of recent cow-dun? contain 25 per cent, of dry, solid matter, and that ti pel 

 sent, of this is lost in 40 days by exposure to the ait-. I do not think this indicates the full loss which wouW 

 he 'istHined in a southern latitu.-le. 



J Tliese rounded pellets are covered, too, in the animal in good condition, with a coating of mucus, which 

 tuther protects them from evaporation. 



tl Their urine, also, is voided in quantities which render it hishly beneficial ; while that of the horse and 

 cow is voided in such large quantities in one place that it is not only in a great measure wasted, but in « 

 dry dme (so that it is not diluted by Ibe moisture in the soil), its rich salts, so far from benefiting, actually 

 kill the verdure. 



5 This is pivticularly true of the blackberry or bramble (Ruhriis villosns), and the raspberry (Ruhut 

 uioeiis), -jftrn great pests on new or neglected lands at the North. Sheep can even he made to attack the 

 eider ($amhnnts cavneUvns var. puhmee-nf), and various other troublesome intniders. by turning them upo» 

 Ibem ia thawing 'spoils," in the winter, after they have Iv^en for some time confined to dry feed. 



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