19 



being wooded to the top, condense moisture, and deliver it slowly and 

 regularly. 



This is the land of cotton, of the vine, and of the peach. It is 

 difficult to conceive a climate better for fine-woollccT sheep. In this 

 section alone can be found an area almost sufficient for what is pro- 

 posed hereafter. 



Mutton raised on the sea islands, where the sheep browse on the 

 marsh-mallow, is claimed b}' Charleston epicures to be superior to the 

 best Southdown. 



In the mountain valleys flanking this "thermal" region, possess- 

 ing a rich soil and a dry, health}', and not very cold climate, the long- 

 woolled sheep may be grown to any extent, and, higher up, the 

 Angora goat. 



In its natural condition the soil of this upland section will yield 

 from 175 to 250 pounds of cotton lint per acre. 



When properly cultivated and manured, the product can be carried 

 to 500 pounds per acre or more. 



Assuming good cultivation and an average product of 400 pounds 

 lint, there will be from 1,050 to 1,250 pounds of seed to each acre 

 on the average. After setting aside enough selected seed for plant- 

 ing, there will be 1,000 pounds left for feeding. 



It is the production of seed that exhausts the soil, and not of fibre. 

 In the four hundred pounds lint there are but four pounds of chemical 

 elements drawn from the soil ; but in the thousand pounds of seed 

 there are forty pounds of phosphate of lime and potash. 



If this seed is used for a fertilizer as it comes from the gin, it 

 works slowly and unevenly. The oil injures it as a fertilizer. It 

 should all be fed to stock in order to give the best results. 



It seems to suit sheep well if fed whole ; but, for hogs and cattlej 

 the more the oil is removed, the better it is. 



Here let it be remarked that the removal of oil b}^ hulling, and 

 then pressing the kernel, is an ineffectual mode. B} T treatment with 

 naphtha we have lately obtained oil from the hardest and driest 

 cotton-seed cake to the amount of 15^ per cent of the weight of the 

 cake. But, as it has been said, sheep appear to thrive on whole seed, 

 and must therefore thrive on oil-cake and hulls ground or mixed 

 together. 



The area of land from which the late crop of 5,750,000 bales of 

 cotton was gathered, was 12,600,000 acres, a trifle over 19,000 

 square miles. Assuming that 4,600,000 acres of this land was river- 

 bottom, and we have 8,000,000 acres of upland under cultivation. 

 The average product of the whole area in cotton was less than half a 

 bale, or less than 240 pounds to the acre; and the average of the 

 uplands could not have exceeded, if it reached, 200 pounds to the 

 acre in this prolific cotton year just ended. 



I have the record from m}' friend, Mr. Dunbar, of an old field of 

 forty acres of sandy upland, near Augusta, Ga., brought up by the 

 use of stable manure, composted with dead leaves from adjacent 

 woods, from 150 pounds to over 500 pounds per acre. 



