58 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



and are succeeded by the best ones ; and the sward becomes rei aarkably 

 dense and even. This is probably due to the richness and better distribu- 

 tion of their dung and urine. 



]r upward of twenty per cent, profits, over and above all expenditures^ 

 have been and still can be made, on lands worth S20 per acre, by wool- 

 growing — an lands, too, where the reign of an iron winter confines sheep 

 to dry feed at least five months of the year — how are we to estimate those 

 profits on lands costing but a small part of this sum, which, though inferioj 

 to the former, will, by reason of the shortness and mildness of the winter 

 support about an equal number of sheep per acre, and also save the ex- 

 pense of preparing dry feed, of foddering, and a large proportion of thai 

 laid out in barns, shelters, &c. 1 



It will be seen that, by assuming the data of the last of the two preced 

 ing estimates (with the exception of the loss by death), the gross cost ol 

 producing 300 lbs. of wool, on the grazing lands of New-York, is S82 16, 

 or 27|^| cts. per pound. This is undoubtedly as low as it can be produced 

 where the fleeces do not exceed the average weight of 3 lbs. Let us now 

 proceed to inquire what would be the gross expense per pound in the 

 Southern States. 



You inform me that " one or two — not more — " sheep find subsistence 

 during the summer on the natural pastures of the tide-ivatcr zone in South 

 Carolina.* The broad-tailed, and other large breeds, now mainly fed 

 there, consume nearly double the amount of feed required by the nne- 

 wooled sheep. But, to make our estimate perfectly a safe one, we will 

 assume that two fine-wooled sheep only will consume the summer herbage 

 of an acre. Fields of rye sown in September or October, you farther in- 

 form me, will support " two sheep and their lambs" per acre, " from the 

 20th of December to the 10th of March." Numeiically, then, here you 

 have the same stocking that is borne by the lands of New-York, viz. three 

 sheep per acre. And, making the allowance already alluded to for the 

 diffei-ent consumption of breeds, an acre would sustain three full-growD 

 Merino sheep. As the rye subsequently yields its crop, the wool is not 

 chargeable with the expense of its tillage. 



Rye will continue to grow in the winter on all lands not too steiile, oi 

 too elevated, south of latitude 36°, and, in favorable situations, at leasl 

 two degrees farther north. Grass, and some other hardy esculents, al<5y 

 maintain a winter vegetation in many portions of the whole of this re- 

 gion.! 



R. L. Allen, Esq., after a recent visit to the plantation of Col. Wade 

 Hampton, near Columbia, S. C, thus speaks of the winter verdure in thaJ 

 region : 



" Though everything like grass or weeds is rigidly excluded in the early slages ci th« 

 crops, yet, as these approach maturity, the thick netting of crab and various other grfisses 

 and plants, which are ever struggling tor existence in this wann clime, are allowed to come 

 forward and mature ; and their growth furnishes forage for cattle and sheep duriusr the win- 

 ter, and an important addition to the vege-table manures for tunn'ng under and adding to the 

 fertility of the soil. . . . The sheep, together with the cattle, mules and horses, which 

 are not at work, are turned into the natural pastures in summer, and, in addition to these, 

 they have the mn of the corn-fields in winter, and without seeing any other shelter agtiast 

 the severest storms than a thicket or hill side, they thrive and fatten throughout the year.— 

 This condition is secured by the mildness of the climate, and the conseijueut growth of vege 

 lation Juring the entire winter." * 



» n hese pi.ntrmentF. ami all others creditod to Col. Allston, are, when not oAerwise specified, contained 

 { letterg from that gnntlt-niHu t» iho writpr ] 



t Aninna thnte, "a plant called -Wild Rye.' aHbidin? excellent herhace during the winter months, sprinjgt 

 ap Bponriin<'i>ii-'ly on the rice-tield banks, and between the cotton beds, on some plantations on the Rivif 

 rongaree. S "^ " 



