6U SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



■pects, treated more like outlaws than domestic animals. When out, all the flocks in dM 

 neighborho<id mingle together. From their disposition to ramble, and tlie uicursions of dog«, 

 they get scattered, and scarcely auy farmer can get up to the fall sheaiing more than ou©» 

 half of his count. 



The region above described includes Pickens, Grenville and Spartansburg, so far as thia 

 State is concerned. Gomg east of this strip, you at once get into good laud, where the set 

 tlements are frequent. Here snow is rai-e, and wheat, lye and barley ai-e used lor wi;Ce» 

 pastures for sheep, and they continue growing during the winter. Wood grass does not 

 abound in this region, as the woods are not kept burnt.* 



Very respectfully, yours, &c. R. >. SIMP.-'ON. 



The preceding statements give a sufficient idea of the expense of feed- 

 ing sheep in the Carollnas, Georgia, and the Gulf States. In all of these, 

 there is a striking similarity in soils and natural products, and also in cli 

 mate — with, perhaps, the exception of North Carolina, which is a trifle 

 colder. In all of them, as well as in all the other Southern States, land 

 can be bought at the same low prices.t 



The cost of the winter forage of sheep in Tennessee may be inferred 

 from the statements of Mr. Kramer, (in Letter IV.) On even the lofty 

 Cumberland Mountains, in that State, grass grows during the entire win- 

 ter, and snow rarely covers the ground to exceed forty-eight hours ! Judge 

 Beatty's statements in relation to Kentucky (in the same letter) show that 

 the luxuriant blue-grass pastures of that State will sustain sheep during 

 the entire winter ; and that they frequently obtain their whole subsistence 

 on the grasses, even on the mountains. Let us now turn to Virginia, the 

 most northern of the Southern States. In a recent letter to me, John S. 

 Skinner, Esq. says : 



" Hon. Mr. Coles, a Member of Congi-ess from Virginia^ — a sedate, attentive and practical 

 faraier- -once informed me that his flock of 200 sheep, kept in good condition summer and 

 winter, did not cost him $10 a year. .... You must know that they, in tlie general 

 way, as I believe, never feed their sheep, winter or summer, except where the ground is 

 covered with snow — which is i-arely the case, and then the snow does not lie more than a 

 day, or at most two days. ... No doubt winter pasture might be provided by sowing 

 rye in the piopcr season (the usual system is to sow it the last thing, and jis long as the 

 farmer can " catch a chance") and putting the ground in good condition ; and in that way 

 adequate provision miglit be made for any deficiency of natural pasture. . . . When 



the snow docs cover the ground in Virginia, they give the sheep corn-blades — an excellent 

 fodder. I think the rule was wheu I was a boy (in the rare exigency alluded to) to give 

 them a bundle of blades each. A bundle of blades compacted would be about as large as 

 the upper part of your arm." 



North- Western Virginia seems to be considerably colder than the corre- 

 sponding portion of the State east of the mountains ; and the winter fod- 

 dering season is not greatly shorter — though the amount of fodder con- 

 sumed ?fm.st be far less — than in Western Pennsylvania, or in many por- 

 tions of N<-!W-York.I| Yet, singtilarly enough, more sheep are bred here 

 in proportion, probably, than in any other jjortion of the Southern States! 



* Some other paragraphs from this letter iirc omitted for quotalioji under the heads of which they specif. 

 Ically treat 



t Hon S '^tronp:, n Member of Coiifness fiom this (N. Y.) State, writes me, after con.oultniioii with vari- 

 out Southern Member-, thai " good lands may be purchased for SI 50 per acre, and in great aliundance, in 

 Bosl of the Southern St^te-." 



Mr. Garret Vndiews, of Wilkes Co., Ocorgia, in a communication in the Amerionn Aip-iciiliurist (April, 

 1844), o)iye : " Several hundrod acres (in the middle or hilly zone) %-c often sold for a dollar or less i«i 

 tcre. The usual rule is to fell the wood-land for what it may be thoudit to be worth, nmt ^'ive the pur 



eha.scr the old lands and the houses for nothing For $1,000 or Sl.oOO, a comfortabli; house and 



out-hou'cs, garden. Sec. may be had. -villi cevcral hundred acres of land, . . wanting nothint; but a fnii 

 chance to become ns fertile OP may bo l-^-ired. . . . 'J'hore is no end of the materials for iniinure." 



I ro,cently s iv/ it etated by a ger.Meman in a communication whii;h was piilili^hod in the N. Y. ["armer acf 

 Mechani-, that he was authorized xo gixc atony good land in the Cumberland .Mountains to sober and indiu 

 trtoaa ssnlei*. 



The prices in me X C. Mountains will be seen from Mr. Clingmnn's letter, (Letter IV.) 



t Mr. Cole.s resided in Pilt*ylvania, a county adjoininq; North Carolina, in the middle or hilly zone. 



[| Jcs«c K.<i2in^lon, of Hollid.ny's (jove, Brooke Co , Va.. writes me: " Our average time of fi-ddering It 

 •t least 4 months, and wc generally piovidc \ '•oveiider equal to 5 tons of hay for" each hundred grova 

 •hccp for Uie winter." 



