J6'2 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



BO or not, when we compare the profits which have inured to the groweri 



and manufacturers of fine wool for the last few years, it behooves the for- 

 mer l)oth to speak and oc^ decidedly. Their interests have been sacrificed 

 long enough ! But it is to be hoped that the grower of these \a'oo1s will 

 not be hereafter driven to the alternative of either suffering himself, or of 

 defending himself by retaliatory measures. Some few of the manufac- 

 turers have always, I believe, taken a high and liberal course. Enough 

 others, as already remarked, now see the necessity of such liberality to 

 prevent any combined or general effort to depress prices. 



\V^ill the North again turn its attention to the growth of superfine and 

 fine wocis — again supply the demand, and keep up with it as it increases 1 

 Not unless stimulated by the inducement of extraordinary profits — not, 

 certainly, against the competition of the South. The climate north of 41°, 

 or, beyond all dispute, north of 42°, is too severe for any variety of sheep 

 commonhi knoton, which bear either of these classes of wools. In fact, the 

 only such variety, in anything like general use, is the Saxon ; and this ia 

 a delicate sheep, entirely incapable of safely withstanding our Northern 

 winters, without good shelter, good and regularly administered food, and 

 careful and skillful management in all other particulars. When the season 

 is a little more than usually backward, so that grass does not start prior to 

 the lambing season, it is difficult to raise the lambs of the mature ewes — 

 the young ewes will in many instances disown their lambs, or, if they own 

 the)n, not have a drop of milk for them ; and if in such a crisis, as it often 

 happens, a north-east or noith-west storm comes driving down, bearing 

 snow or sleet on its wings, or there is a sudden depression of the temper- 

 ature from any cause, no care will save multitudes of lambs from perish- 

 ing.* And it will not do to defer the time of having them dropped lo es- 

 cape these evils, or they will not attain size and strength enough to pass 

 safely through their first winter.t A few large sheepholders, whose farms, 

 buildings, etc., have been arranged with exclusive reference to the rearing 

 of these sheep, may continue to grow fine wool until driven from it by the 

 competition of the South ; but many of these have recently adopted a 

 Merino cross.' The ordinary farmers, the small sheepholders, who, in the 

 aggregate, grow by far the largest portion of our Northern wools, have im- 

 bibed a deep-seated aversion — nay, a positive disgust — against the Saxon 

 sheep. They have not the necessary fixtures for their winter protection, 

 and they are entirely unwilling to bestow the necessary amount of care on 

 them. Besides, mutton and wool being about an equal consideration with 

 this class of farmers, they want larger and earlier maturing breeds. But, 

 above all, they want a strong, hardy sheep, which demands no more care 

 than their cattle. The strong, compact, medium-wooled Merino — or, per- 

 haps still more generally, its crosses with coarse varieties, producing the 

 wool which I have classified as ordinary — will be the general favorites. — 

 The same reasons will weigh still more strongly in the North-west, where, 

 as I have shown, the climate is a still worse one for delicate sheep. All 

 these causes will tend to swell the amount of medium, ordinary and coarse 



ColccrteH movement to bring the Eflstem grower into takinc !nst year's jirices ? It actually did so, in a 

 mttltiludc of inptances— ov, he was contented lo receive the slightest advance on them ! This will be founil 

 true of wcarly »11 who sold Eoon after the market opened in the East. If not the result of a concerted and 

 combined movement, the general desertion of ihe Eastern and resort to the Western market by the matiu 

 fccturers was a most sineular coincidence ! These manufacturers are now fain to purchase Eastern woala 

 ■t a considerable advance from the prices of 1846— and. as already hinted, it is highly problematical, in my 

 mind, whether they will not be compelled to import at a still higher advance, to eke out a deficiency ! It it 

 to he hoped that this will be the last Act in the drnma of folly and suicide played by our manu 'acturers. 



* Not even in close barns, and with constant attendance. 



t North of latitude 42°, it is necessary, as a general rule, that lambs be dropped in the first half of May, la 

 give them this requisite size and strensth (iccHsional cold storms come nearly every season up to I' 

 period, and not unfrequently up to the first of June. Mr. Grove was a decided advocate of early la— *- 

 Be used to aay that " it wa« better to lose two of th«m n the spring tbau one in the fall." 



