SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. gg 



bodies of a?iif)ials, as it would be turned under gieen ; and tlien we have 

 all the profit made on or by the animals — meat, wool, &:c. — without any 

 additional cost. Sheep, being the best mmurers, and otherwise the most 

 pri»fitable animals, will (with enough other animals to supply all the home 

 demand for the necessaries furnished by them) best sustain a profitable ro- 

 tation. 



Here, perhaps, the discussion of this topic in connection with the sub- 

 ject matter of tiiese letters should terminate ; but I am unwilling to abari 

 d(tn it, without making a few practical suggestions as to the rotation which 

 would be lound most profitable at the Scath — more particularly on thu 

 valuable cotton lands, which are suffering most for the want of it. It is 

 manifet'tly impossible to lay down any rule or rules on this subject, which 

 can or should be rigidly acted upon, in all instances. Leading principles 

 can only be declared, and, if correct, the intelligent man can always vary 

 their application so as to meet the exigencies of his particular case. 



First, I should consider it indispensable on all cotton (or tobacco) lands,* 

 under all circumstances, to keep at least one-third of them in pasturage, to 

 insure the proper amount of manure, over and above cotton seed, and 

 such occasional supplies of swamp mud and marl as might be obtained at 

 spare intervals — and all other incidental manures. Another third, 1 be- 

 lieve, should be generally devoted to grain for bread stuffs, for fattening 

 tlie necessary amount of bacon, and for the winter forage of horses, mules, 

 swine, &c. Unless the horses and mules, and, perhaps I should add, the 

 cows, were wintered entirely, or in great part, on grain and the offal of 

 the grain crops, one-third of the cultivated land in grass, would not support 

 animals enough to produce the manure requisite for two-thirds in cottoa 

 and grain. But in making the above division, I spoke only of the arabla 

 lands fit for the growth of cotton. Most plantations have poor, or swampy 

 or rough lands, which wpuld most profitably be kept permanently in grass 

 and these would supply the deficit. The remaining third of the arable 

 lands might be devoted to cotton, or, in the tobacco region, to tobacco. 



By the course above proposed, the cotton (or tobacco) and wool would 

 oe made the salable products. The grain, grass, dairy products, bacon, 

 &c., would be consumed on the plantation. This is as it should be. Eu- 

 ropean famine has given a stir to the latter products thi-i year, (and it may 

 for a year more,) in the Southern markets ; but with the ordinary Euro- 

 pean demand, the old Southern Atlantic States cannot, as we have seen, 

 compete at a profit with these commodities, which debouch through the 

 Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, and the northern canals. With the two 

 woofs, as they are sometimes called, the " vegetable and animal," these' 

 States can undoubtedly sustain fhemselves against the pressure of any out* 

 ward competition. 



Such a division of crops as the one above proposed, could be effected 

 iiy a six-course system of rotation. Let us suppose the land of the planta- 

 tion fit to grow corn and cotton, divided into six equal fields. I then pyo- 

 pose the following rotation : 



• I hnve not included the rice lands, because beinj deep beds of alluvial deposits, composed in a greU 

 racMsurn (if organic matter, an<' being susceptible of iiTigatlon, they will not wear out like ordinarr 8oii«. 

 un I etand less in need of ruta^ n in their croys. 



