The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-10-02
FARMER AND PLANTER.
SHEEP N The SOUTH.

All the Conditions Necessary are There.
Any reference to breeds of sheep that
commend themselves to the aspiring
Southern fiockmen would be incomplete
without mention of Merino, which, by
great number of people, is deemed
best of all for a general-purpose sheep,
taking into account all demands of the
markets for wool and mutton. In the
first place, it is the only sheep that
need be looked to for supply of wool
fine enough to meet the demand for
such fne-ibered fabrics as have secured
for our people the credit of being the
best.dressed nation in the world. A
large majority of the three hundred
million pounds of wool grown in the
United States is of Merino blood, in de-
gree from pure to quarter-bred. And
necessarily very considerable proper
ton of the fifteen millions or more NUT
ton car3asses yearly consumed have a
large percentage of Merino blood in
their makeup.
This is neither accidental nor tempo
rary. Reason for it is found in the fact
that Merino sheep will stand more hard
knocks than any of their larger-bodied
relatives, as turned out by the hands of
critical and competent English herders;
and every live American feels leaning
toward the hustler" whether found
among his fellow men or little lower
down the animal scale. From any such
general estimate of the Merino, it will
be we'll to accept that highly artificial
type, with body enveloped in folds and
wrinkles, and fleece loaded with grease
and grain, in the proportion of three or
four pounds of the latter to each pound
of wool. There are such sheep in plenty,
with admirers and advocates ready to
pay long prices for them, and they have
their place in our wool-producing econ
omy.
But without in any wise abating my
appreciation of this life, and my respect
for the energy and success of the men
who have achieved its wonderful devel-
opment, / admit inability to discover
profitable place for this abnormally-
covered sheep in that husbandry of the
South now under consideration. There
are places for them, however, in the
/ Southlands; if not in the mixed hus-
bandry of the average plantation, then
upon the untitled Appalachian uplands
from the Ohio river to Georgia. Along
this line can be found many of those
peculiarities of heritage, climate, water
and atmosphere, under which the
Merino attained such eminence in Spain
during the eighteenth century.
/ What has been here tofore achieved
with Merinos in some portions of Vir-
/ ginia it seems possible to repeat all
along that mountainous strip dividing
the Atlantic coast and the interior
States from the Potomac to the Allan
tic, where thousands of square miles of
nature favored territory still sleeps in
the quietude of creations morning, So
far as utilization of its heritage and
waters may be concerned. Right there,
in the neighborhood of some of the ear
lest settlements, richer promise has
long been held out to the wool-growers
than that which has lured so many to
the Western plains. As to why such
premise has been so long unheeded
there may exist some difference OF
opinion. That the time is ripe for util-
izing these great natural advantages
there need be no question. That such
improvement will soon come, verify
believe.
The future historian, when recording
the marvellous development of Southern
resources-in mines, forests, manufact.
ures-will need to reserve a page for
that other story of utilized heritage,
equally creditable to the energy and
foresight of the people who have, under
adverse conditions, accomplished such
phenomenal progress as has character
lied those of the Southland. Not a
new South, as some would have it, but
the Old South under new dispensation.
When this forward movement along the
whole line is resolved upon, the place
for the Merino will be found and util.
lied and the rich heritage thatnow regu.
larly contributes to the fury of autumal
fires will come down from teeming hill
sides in bales of wool to swell the re.
sources of a people to whom nature has
been marVelously kind.
have for years believed that in the
belt of country here indicated, as q
IdNOFdD1S uhD1bdb iOF bu0 Nl6EluO SOeSp,
is yet to be worked out the problem OF
producing within the United States all
the fine combing woods required by oul
manufacturers, and for which they are
now mostly dependent on foreign coun'
tries principally Australia. For it il
a fact that locality, with its necessary
changes in food, water and climate
vastly influences the wool fiber. The
same animal will show perceptible
change in peculiarities of fleece wher
removed from Vermont to Texas and
subjected to resulting changes in food
temperatures, etc. In some instances
localities in the same State will show
marked difference in the fiber of woods
from the same breed of sheep
Shrewd buyers and manufacturer:
long ago found this out, and hence theil
preference for woods of certain sections
as evinced in any market quotations the
reader may take up. Ohio and West Vir
ginia woods sell for more per pound thar
equally fine woods grown in Illinois o.
on the Western plains. When the manu-
facturer is asked to give reason for thi