66 8HEEF HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



LETTER VI. 



PllOFlTS OF SHEEF HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTHERN STATES— 2. A3 TBI 

 BASIS OF AMELIORATION IN NATURALLY STERILE AND WORN-OI P 

 SOILS. 



Feasibility of rendering the naturally Bterile and wom-out Soils of the South productive. .Means mutt b« 

 ample and (tlieap.. .Oiiiiiuiry Animal Manures from .Stables, &,c., not attainable in sufficient quantity — to* 

 expensive if transported I'ar by laud carriage... Animal Manures of Commerce still more out of the que» 

 •,ion... Gypsum — not .sulhcient of itself. .. Wood Ashes— Leached Ashes — their greHt value, but limited 

 quantity.'. .Lime (ninrl)... Swamp Mud— inexhaustible quantity of each.. .Valuable Eflects of Lime un 

 fcioilB... Otherwise winin there is n deficiency of Organic Matter... Opinion of Johnston, Biown, Lord 

 Kaimea. Anderson, Morton, Thaer, Petzholdt, Chaptnl.. .Souihem Tertiary and Granitic Soils desiiiute of 

 Organic Matter.. . Expen.siveness of Marl -not very permanent in its ett'ecls . . . The best Swamp Mud worth 

 more per load.. .This, too, an expensive manure... Hoih too cot^tly for extensive ameliorations., .is there, 

 then, any resort '' —There i.s — it is to be found in a Mixed -y.<tem of Green and Animal Manuring, the lat- 

 ter made attainable by Sheep Husbandry . . . Experience and Testimony of various English Farmer* under 

 analogous circumstances... Reasons why Sheep are preferred to Horned Caiile for this purpose. ..Con- 

 sideied more protitable in Ens.'land, and by some in the United Slates, independent of Eleece.. .Singular 

 Hallucination of Col Taylor (jn this subject.. .Sheep preferred as Improvers of Poor Lands in the North- 

 ern and Eastern Slates, but the end sought by dittirent means Irom those employed in England.. .The 

 English System— Reasons why it is inapplicable in the United States ... System in the Northern and East- 

 ern American States... Proper System in the Southern Stales, on Lands now partly Grns.'^ed, and on Naked 

 Soils. . .Green Manuring — how accomplished — Proper Plants for the purpose — Practical Ruins — Expensive^ 

 ness.. .Should the Pasluri; Lands of the South be exclusively devoted to Sheep Grazing? — Should not... 

 Home Demand should be supplied by Home Production, in the Staples furnished by all the Domestic 

 Animals — Reasons therefor.. .As a surplus or exporting Animal Staple, Sheep furnish the one in which 

 the South can best coirpete with other Producers. 



Dear Sir : Let us now pass to the second point in reference to which 

 we are to consider the profits of sheep husbandry in the Southern States, 

 viz.: the practicability and comparative economy ol" making it the basis 

 of an efl'ectual amelioration in soils naturally sterile, or those which have 

 been rendered so by excessive and injudicious cultivation. 



The first of these classes of soils is confined, mainly, to the tide-water 

 zone. The second is found both in this and the hil y zone, and, I need 

 not say, in immense quantities. 



How can these soils be profitably ameliorated 1 it is certain that this 

 can onlv be done by the introduction into them of substances fitted to be- 

 come the food of plants — or whicli, by chemical combinations or changes, 

 prepare otlier substances to become such food. On soils naturally too 

 sterile to sustain useful vegetation, the quantity of fertilizing matter intro- 

 duced must be comparatively laige. Hence it must be cheap, or its cost 

 will more than overbalance its advantages. There are various manures 

 which separately, or in conjunction, would convert the worst acre of bar- 

 ren sand between Richmond and Raleigh, or, if you please, on the Desert 

 of Sahara, into a fertile garden, provided it could have timely rains and 

 be protecte^l fi om the burying sands. But it is utterly useless to argu 3 

 the fens ibi lit 1^1 of this means or that, without at the same time exammiug 

 its economy. 



The direct and prf)fuse application of aii'.mal manures, ff»r example 

 would probably effectually ameliorate any of these soils. I^nt where are 

 these manures t<j be obtained, in a region where the first necessaiy condi- 

 tion for their production, i. e. the vegetation necessary to support domes- 

 tic animals, is wanting % The quantity accumulating in the cities and vil- 

 lages of a comparatively sparsely populated region — in a climate Avhere 

 the pr«^.servntinu of putrefying substances would be incompatible with 



