78 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH 



LETTER VII. 



PROFITS OF SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTHERN STATES— 3. BY GIV 

 ING TO SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE A MIXED AND CONVERTIBLE CHAIU 

 ACTER.— 4. BY FURNISHING THE RAW MATERIAL FOR THE MANUFAC- 

 TURE OF DOMESTIC WOOLENS. 



Expediency of Rotaiion in Crops. ..Consequences of omitring it on Whent Lands of New- York. ..Mr. Gny 

 lord's views.. -Consequences in the Southern States. ..Mr. Roper's Report in the Legislature of South 

 Carolina— [Cotton Statistics of that State— Comparison with oiher States— General Agricultural Resources 

 —necessity of new staples]. ..Judge Seabrook's Report to the State Agiicultural Society of South Caro- 

 lina [Agricultural Statistics- Remedies proposed for present "distress"). ..Singular omission of Wool ai 



one of the proposed new Staples. ..Southern prejudice on this subject— Causes. ..Impropriety of the one- 

 crop system— Dimini.^hes crops— Deteriorates land— Multiplies insects. ..Fertilhy sustained by Rotation- 

 Causes. .." Resting"— Its inexpediency. ...'^ome of the Crops of every Rotation must be convened mainly 

 into Manure — Superior economy of converting them into Animal Manure — t'heep the most protitable ani- 

 mals for this purpose. ..Leading principles of a protitable Southern Rotation — Six-shift Course propo-ed — 

 Five-shift Course— Six-shift Course for poor soils. ..Col. Taylor's Four-shift Course— Objections. ..Com- 

 parative profit of growins Wool, Cotton and Rice, incidentally alluded to. ..Economy of producing the raw 

 material for the Manufacture of Domestic Woolens... Cost of Slave Cloths per head per year... Prices now 

 paid for these Cloths— Cost of manufacturing them— Data for ettimating such cost. ..Great profits of M«n- 

 ufactnrers in the Norihem .^tates— Their Dividends— Their method of exchanging Cloth for Wool— Work- 

 ing Wool at the halves. ..Cost of Cloths obtained by these methods... The South may obtHin the same ad- 

 vantages — Natural Facilities — Cost of Machinery- On what terms worked— Operations. ..Cloths spun and 

 wove "by hand cheaper than the imported one*— Cost of the several processes of manufacturing them— 

 Estimate of Cost per yard at the North. ..Cost of establishing Carding and Cloth-Dressing Machinery... 

 Home-made Fabrics diminishing at the North— Causes... Same Causes will not operate to so great an ex 

 tent at the South- Reosons.-.JProbable Cost of Home-made Cloths, South. 



Vear Sir : The third gi-eat benefit claimed by me among the prcfiis of 

 sheep husbandry in the Southern Stated was, " ics comparative efficacy in 

 giving to Southern Agriculture a mixed and convprtible character, and 

 thereby sustaining (or improving) all the present good tillage lands, in the 

 place of continuing the " new and old field " sy.stem (tilling land until it is 

 worn out, then abandoning it and opening new lands), once so general, 

 and even now by far too prevalent." 



'^he first object of mixed husbandi-y has been already slated — the home 

 supply of the various necessaries of life. Its second, and still more impor- 

 tant one, is the preservation of existing fertility in all soils fit for tillage. — 

 It certainly requires no proof or argument to demonstrate the supiii-ior ex- 

 pediency of maintaining the fertility of soils, if it can be done, by a rota- 

 tion of crops, even though each of these crops is not, separately considered, 

 the one which would yield the greatest immediate profit. In the language 

 of the hackneyed aphorism, it is never expedient to " kill the goose which 

 lays golden eggs." 



This constant cropping with one plant was once extensively practiced 

 on the wheat lands of New-York, as many of their present owners can 

 bitterly attest. Even now there can be no doubt that, on nearly all of 

 them, wheat returns too often in the rotation. These lands were once 

 rapidly, and are still, I fear, slowly declining in value ; while the grazing 

 lands of Southern New-York, where men have been compelled to be more 

 discreet, have been constantly improving and approximating to the fonner 

 in market value.* 



* This calls to mind a letter which 1 received from an old and valued correspondent, the late Willis Gay 

 ord, but a short time prior to his death. J had spoken of the advantages of his own. the wheat region, 

 aver the ;;razms region in which I reside. Mr. G. combated this idea. He thought capital invested hen 



