Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-01-17
GEORGIA WOOL.
The Cost of Raising and Keeping 1t
Sheep Statistics, Etc.

I
The average annual cost per head of
/ keeping sheep in Georgia is only "a
| cents. The average cost of raising a
/ pound Of wool is only cents, while the
/ average price for which the unwashed
/ wool is sold is 1917 cents net. The aver
/ age yield OF unwashed wool to the sheep
/ is 3.44 pounds, which, at 271z cents net,
/ gives an average clear income in wool
4 from such sheep of 81 cents. The average
/ price of lambs sold. to the butcher in
! Georgia is 81 81. The average price of
stock sheep is 81 IS per head. The aver
| age annual profit invested in sheep in
Georgia is GO per cent.
| The following reports have been sworn
! to in the presence of disinterested par
| ties:
Mr.. David Ayres, of Camilla, Mitchell
county, Southern Georgia, where snow
never falls nd the ground seldom freezes,
and where the original pine forest is car
peted with grass that is indigenous to the
soil from January to December, says his
sheep, $500 in number. cost him annually
IA cents per head. The average clip is
three pounds of unwashed wool, which
sells at 80 cents per pound, giving a clear
profit of 80 per cent. on the money invested
in sheep. Mr.. A. does not feed his sheen
at any time, and relies entirely on native
sheep.
Mr.. John Mcdowell, of Washington
county, Pennsylvania, keeps go highly
improved sheep, the keeping of which
/ costs annually 81 "a a head. He aims to
make his wool clip clear, which averages
| four pounds of broOk-washed wool to the
sheep. His wool crop sold in 1870 for
90 cents a pound, or 81 "a for each
sheep Sheared, but the crop cost, on ac-
count of the severe winter, 10 cents
a pound, which makes his net income per
sheep 81 "a. His sheep are worth SO 30
per head, and his net profits are 46
cents on the money invested. The land
on which Mcdowell pastures his sheep is
worth $50 per acre, while | am authorized
to sell land like that owned by Ayres for
81 80 per acre, and the 10000 acres thus
offered are situated in the same part of
the State as that which sustains Ayres'
sheep.
In Middle Georgia Robt. C. Humber. of
Putnam county, reports that he keeps 1873
sheep of the cross between the merinO and
the common stock. They yield an average
of three pounds of wool per head which he
sold in 1870 at % cents per pound. They
cost him nothing except the shearing, and
he claims they pay him 100 per cent. on
the investment in mutton, lambs and wool.
His sheep range on Bermuda grass fields
i'll summer and the ''sld felds'' in winter.
The ''cane bottoms" and the cane which
fringes with luXuriant LEAKAGE the streams
III georgia, OI1er STOCK OF all descriptions
most healthy and nOurishing green food,
even in the depth of winter. No shelter
is required, and no diseases OfcOnsequence
are reported among the flocks of Georgia.
The arid wastes of Colorado, New Mexi-
co and other parts of the EEGreat West"
cannot be compared with the sunny skies
and healthful climate and cheap lands,
permeated by railroads and navigable
streams, of Georgia. No treeless wastes
or waterless tracts embarrass the hus-
bandman there, and Northern farmers are
wanted by the thousands to aid in devel-
oping the wonderful resources that are
now dormant for want of sturdy hands and
intelligent labor that will create the capt.
tai needed. They will find a law-abiding
people and country so healthy that the
death rate is less than in Maine, COnnec-
ticut, or Missouri, and the same as in
Michigan, which is conceded to be one of
the healthiest States in the Union. In
dented with some of the finest harbOrs on
the Atlantic coast,it its transportation facil-
tiles are unequaled in the South. The
whole State lies in the temperate zone.
The price of land is from 81 70 $50 per
acre. The cheapest and best timber in
the United States is there; no laborer was
ever charged for fuel. The meadow in
Southern Georgia is made by nature; the
labOrer can work in the field every day in
the year. FRANCIS FONTAINE.