The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-10-04

Sneop Raising n tnc SOutns
Ny own experience has convinced
me that there is no kind OF farming
more generally profitable in the South
than raising sheep. We have large
scopes of country not well adapted to
cotton and corn, such, for instance, rs
the mountain regions of Tennessee and
the pine regions further down; but
now that we have a Bermuda grass
amongst us, all may be made profita-
bic AS sheep farms. Bermuda grass
will grow anywhere, and will last well
through the winter, and sheen will
thrive well upon it-and the South is
the natural home of the sheen, there
fore there is no reasonable excuse for
our not going regularly into the bust
ness. With proper care, sheep will
bring fuller return for the amount of
money invested than :anything else
one can 60 into.
know il has been argued that wool
grown in a warm climate is not so fine
or SO good as that grown in a colder
country; tut THE, / am satisfied, is
not the ease. If we do not produce as
good wool in the South rs they do in
the North, the fault lies i'm our breeds
OF stock, and not in our climate.
The sheep is one of the most Won
derful gifts OF a kind Providence to
man. 1t offers the most useful and
most economical among all modes OF
converting ali the vegetation of the
farm into money. There is no animal
in which there is SO little actual waste
or loss. For at least seven years of its
life it will give an annual fleece almost
II not quite equal in value to the car
cas-; and the early increase in num-
hers will fully ray the cost of keeping
the flock. This, you see, affords to the
grower a mcst handsome profit.
There is 10 danger of OVERRIDING the
business. The annual incrcase of pop
ulst'on in the country requires the
wool from three hundred millions of
sheep; so that to clotbe the increased
population would require an annual
increase of sheep equal to four millions.
But when we come to consider that
there is now an annual deficiency of
over seven million pounds, there can
be no doubt but that wool growing is
the most staple pursuit that can be en-
gagged i'm. We cannot glut the market,
nos will there be any long time that
The market will be depressed below q
point of profitable production. On the
contrary, it is certain that no farm
product goes less below this point than
wool. 1t has long been source of
wonder 70 me that so many farmers
in the Southern States neglect the
sheep for the very precarious business
of cotton growing. Every year will
give them a crop of wool, if they do
tut take care of their sheep; but there
is no certainty for cotton, prepare the
ground ever 20 well. If we have been
rightly informed, the cotton raised i'm
the South has ever cost the planter
more than he has obtained for it in the
market. Too much dependence has
been placed upon this uncertain and
expensive crop.
L have tried cotton growing upon
probably as good a cotton farm as can
be found in Tennessee, and have also
tried sheep upon the same farm; and |
am free TO confess that 1 can raise a
gwen amount OF money quicker and
much easier with flock of sheep than
with cotton. But find it well to raise
both sheep and cotton, as by that
mems / get better profit than to be
confined 10 either alone.
Every good farmer keeps a few good
sheep ut least. Very many who have
been in the habit of putting up large
quantity of pork for summer use, now
select out few wethers and give them
extra keep, so as to make their sum-
lner meat of mutton-decidedly the
most healthfHl that can be used-and
thus realize the money for their pork
fresh. The inducements TO grow
more wool are, a sure market, less
nuctation from the point of profitable
production than any farm product, q
larger interest or profit on the capiiai
invested than any other business-and
therefore the best business, as a gen.
eral thing, that the farmer can follow.
In the out-of-the.way regions where
there is no good market for mutton
convenient, L would recommend the
inner wooded varieties for the fleece
but near the large cities, where there is
a constant demand for the carcass.
there is certainly great profit i'm the
coarser wooded and larger kinds: and
they are generally more hardy and
vigorous in growth than the ether..
AS already iniimated, sheep convert
every specirs Of vegetation into money.
They eat almost anything that grows.
and that part Of it which is not con.
vertible into flesh or fleece, drops upon
the soil as a most excellent fertilizer.
A flock of sheep will enrich a piece Of
r1or land quicker than anything else
Inefe are many grasses that may be
Drontab'y grown in the South for
sheep, but for permanent pasture none
are letter Than Bermuda. | know of
'ld and poor districts in Tennessee
which have been rendered almost
equal to the famous Kentucky blue
g'ass regions 10y it, and | Leaf that
The same is the case with MANY Dor.
lions of Georgia and Caro.ina.-Rer. +
T. Spenccr IN Rurat -Ala6amiGn.