62 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOU I <I. 



pound.* My own impression, however, is that the land, properly in* 



closed, that will support 3 sheep per annum, will cost, ex'^ept in occa* 

 eional localities, not less than S4 or $5, let the amount be more or less ; 

 and this would bring the cost of production (with 3-lb. fleeces) to between 

 7 and 8 cents per pound. I shall hereafter assume it to be 8 cents. 



On many of the more northern mountains of the Southern States, and 

 on the high peaks farther south, neither the grasses nor grain grow sufR 

 ciently to support sheep, unless the range is very large in proportion to 

 the number, during the winter.t Here, as in the Northern States, dry feed 

 aiust be prepared for the winter subsistence of sheep. This can be read- 

 ily done, as the best meadow grasses of the North and the clovers floiuish 

 on the sides of the mountains.^ There is little dt)ubt that sheep can be 

 wintered on dry feed on many of the mountains, and yet, on account of 

 the extreme cheapness of the lands, the cost of producing wool not exceed 

 eight cents per pound. 



In the circumstances of many of the lowland plantations, it would bo 

 a most economical anangement to summer the sheep on the mountaipn, 

 and then drive them to these plantations to be wintered on pasture, fog, 

 or grain fields, according to convenience. After the lambs have reached 

 a sufficient age in the spring, and the sheep are shorn, marked, &c., a 

 flock might be sent thirty, fifty, or even a hundred miles to its summer 

 range on the mountains, at a trifling expense ; and large numbers could 

 he kept there under the surveillance of a single shepherd and a brace oi 

 two of dogs. By this system the lowland plantation would be saved from 

 maintaining pasture on more expensive lands ; many of its less marketa- 

 ble products could be converted into wool, meat, and manure ; and it 

 would be enriched by the wintering of the sheep. 



Such, you are aware, is the system of sheep husbandry in Spain. The 

 sheep are wintered on the plains of Estremadura, sometimes reaching the 

 north of Andalusia. Both of these provinces, though in a latitude cor- 

 responding with that of a portion of the United States, extending from 

 Albemarle Sound to a little north of Philadelphia, are parched, during the 

 summer, to a state of arid sterility, by the burning winds of Africa.|| In 



* See Monthly Joui-nal of Agriculture. 



t With sutticient raniie. however, they not only obtain subsistence, but get fat. .lohn S. Skinner, Esq., 

 writes me : " In the inuuntiiins ot Virginia, viz., at the Warm Springs, Dr. Brockenboro told me that a 

 flock of sheep which he had bought for use during the watering season, strayed, and got ot^' beyond reach 

 during the summer ; that the winter after they were rarely seen : and that as chance otiered they were 

 fhot ; and that finer and fatter mutton he never desired to see." The Warm .Springs are in Balh county, 

 among the Western or Allegany Mountains, a few minutes north of latitude 38°. 



I See Mr. Goggin's statements in Letter IV. Since the above was written, I have received the following 

 etatements from'Mr. W. Murdock, of Asheville, Hunconibc county. North Carolina: 



" Excellent swards of grass are grown in this district from Orchard grass or Cock's-foot. Timothy and 

 Italian Rye grass I have found to thrive remarkably well. 1 never saw them do better in any countiy. 1 

 received my seeds from Kngland, and they succeeded admirably, and in ground by no means favorable to 

 a fair trial. Turnips succeed remarkably well here, and even l.")0 miles farther south, as I am informed by 



Mr. Edward Calhoun— the kinds 1 don't know— but here the Globe, Aberdeen, Norfolk, &c., do well 



If grounds were reserved as you suggest, for the winter feeding of sheep, the fall growth being under- 

 pastured, and if some of the stubbles were plowed up and sown broadcast with turnips mixed with rape 

 or colza, very little fodder will be required, in fact only when enow is on the ground, which seldom e.\ 

 ceeds fifteen or twenty days during the year." [This "fully confirms the positions ateumed by me near thw 

 close of Letter IV.) 



•' I think that Curled Kale would be excellent for the winter keep of sheep, or cattic of any kind. J got 

 some seed from England and sowed it like any cabbaae seed. I put out the plants two feet asunder la bu 

 tolerable ground. It grew thri'e feet high and two feet in diameter. That I planted in the open field the 

 iiheep got at in October, and ate it, stockrbranch(;s and all, to the cround. That planted in the garden has, 

 like the rape, stood the severe frosts uninjured. It is a delightful vegetable all the spring, and stands s 



warm or a cold climate This and rape are. I think, all the green food necessary lo keep sncep 



throush the winter, with the addition of a little hay. Rape may be sown broadcast in mois. A-eatherin 

 May or Jun#, and mown off for the sheep, when required, about six inches above ground. If the shoote 

 urc not required for pasture, let them go to seed, and the feed will pay better than any other crop, for 

 making oil and rape cake." 



II Here is a notable instance of the want of correspondence between isothermal and latitudinal lines be- 

 tween the west of Europe and the eastern portion of our own Continent. 'l"he two .Spanish pro\-incee th« 

 *«titude of which is above given, have a climate more resembling the scorched llanos of Caraccas llianaoi 

 portion, even the most southerly, of the United States. 



