The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-09-07
farm aud Garden.
conducted by DR.. THOMAS POLLARD, State
Commissioner of Agriculture.
Sheep Husbandry.

COuut Va ieo SAOoV iAhPOl lJuSi1ho
has one sheep for every ii acres of land.
Suppose we had one for every ten acres.
We have in Virginia about 2S,000,000
acres-( Auditors report says taxes are
paid on between twenty-seven and TWEEN
ty-eight millions) Then we should have
at least 100000 sheep. or more than
two millions more than we have now
The profit on each sheep for wool and
lambs is at least $3.50, moderate esti-
mate Then we should have from sheep
alone SIS, 100000 to add to the revenue Of
poor old Virginia. The Improvement of
land by sheep is an important aspect of
the question. No other animal exerts
anything like so good an influence in
ameliorating land as sheep The often
quoted proverb that the hoof of the
sheep is golden" though fanciful, has
much of truth in it. Sheep will live and
thrive where cattle will constantly dete-
riorate-they eat every bush and brier,
coarse grasses and weeds, and are great
cleansers of foul lands, and after time,
If the sheep are removed for awhile to
another pasture, sod forms on the land
they have been grazing with improve
ment in the quality and texture of the
grasses. The coarse heritage referred
to is converted by the sheep into good
manure, which is evenly spread over the
land, and from its hard, compact condi-
ton looses very little by the weather and
evaporation, as compared with the drop
pings of other animals. Sheep select for
their resting places the highest points in
the field, which are apt to be washed and
poor, and thus place their manure in the
very places most needed, and always with
decided improvement of these knobs.
By raising sheep, turning under peas, and
other green crops, and the use of lime,
the poorest lands in Virginia may be
greatly renovated and improved. Let
the farmers try it.
AS an evidence of the Importance of
sheep husbandry in reference to the i'm
provement and successful cultivation of
their lands by the English people, who
are the shrewdest and most successful
farmers in Christendom, we give the fol-
lowing testimony of some of the most en-
inent and respectable of them, as taken
before the committee of the House of
Lords, charged with the enquiry into the
state of the wool trade, &C., in 1925
(RomdaU)
Mr.. WILLIAM PINKER, Salisbury Plain: Land
such as occupy could not be maintained with
out the aid of sheep. The sheep are
our principal dependence for supporting our
crops indeed, | could not occupy my farm
without my flock
Mr.. JOHN GILMAN, Jr., Sussex: l do not con-
slider it possible for the light lands upon the
Downs to be kept in cultivation without focks
l could not keep the farm now hold without
cIs a.. L. O. n
must be grown, let the price be what it will.
Mr. FRANCIS HALE, Alringham, Suffolk The
description of land occupy could not be kept
in cultivation without the aid of sheep.
Mr.. HENRY KING, Chilmark wiltshire The
size of my farm is about 1000 acres. clip
annually about $500 South Down sheep.
Such lands as occupy cannot be kept in
cultivation without the aid of sheep
Mr.. JOHN WooLLEDGE, near Bury st. Ed
munds, Suffolk: An estate near the above place
contains $3.50 acres let to tenants. and consists
Principally OF poor sandy and gravelly land
the produce of which in grain is very pre-
carious, amounting in dry summers to little or
nothing. The occupiers, therefore, depend al
most entirely on their hocks of sheep for the
payment of their rents and the employment and
support OF the population. 1 am of
opinion that two thirds of the counties of Suffolk
and Norfolk may be comprehended in the sheen
districts, and that they produce two pounds and
half of wool, and three-fourths of lamb to
the acre, upon an average. The pro
'duce of the land depends materially upon the
folding system; there is not sufficient straw for
manure without the assistance of sheep.
Mr.. WILLIAM lott, Abbey Milton, Dor
setshire: calculate the annual growth of wool
In Dorsetshire at 10000 packs of 246 pounds
each. 1t is estimated that 800 600
sheep, or one sheep and one seventh per acre.
=. are kept in this country. considera,
0le part of the county of Dorset is composed of
light lands, and can only be kept in tiflage by
the aid of sheep.
Z. Q. WESTERN, Esq: 1t is utterly impossible
that the Down Districts can be cultivated to ad
vantage without sheep. We never fold our
Merino or other sheep the land is too wet
LORD NAPIER If we had not sheep upon our
lands the highlands Of Scotand), it would be-
come the habitation of foxes and snipes. and re
turn to waste; it would produce nothing but
grouse and wild game of different sorts.
is it asked, Why sheep are preferred
to horned cattle? Many of the reasons
are gwen in my preceding letter. Then,
again, the scanty and short pasturage of
light lands, on which sheep will thrive
will not afford sufficient "bite" las it is
provincially termed in the Northern
States) to proftably carry large stock
And, finally, there seems to be settled
conviction among the English farmers
that sheep give better return for the
food consumed, and therefore better re-
pay the extraordinary expenditure ne
cessary to bring poor lands in a fit state