The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1895-12-14
WOOL AND MUTTON.

An Interesting Matter for consideration
81 by Southern Farmers.
/ have read again and again, with
undated interest, the letter of r. M. |
Bell in your September Is issue. No
one can write with more authority on
the sheep The high commission he
SO ably filled few years ago, OF In
vestigating the sheep business in the
SOUTH under the auspices of the de-
partment of the United States, gave
him an incompatible opportunity to
know the sheep situation in the south,
and its immense possibilities; while
his thorough acquaintance with the
northern side of sheep raising gives
him opportunities to draw COMPARE
sons, and institute forecasts beyond
any expert of our day.
l am thoroughly satisfied with Mr..
Bells Representation that some day,
ere long, we shall have new sheep
with best mutton and wool qualities.
| If Mr.. Bell could be induced to move
south and go into the sheep business,
we should soon have such type.
There could hardly. be devised bet.
ter scheme of legitimate money-mak.
ing and more beneficent innovation
than for syndicate to buy a large
tract of land south, where there Is per-
petual heritage, clear, perennial
streams, and n dry foot" for the
sheep, and put Mr.. Bell in charge OF
lit i designate no area, although l
know sevdrai most eligible ones. Only
let one go far enough south for fields
ever green. and not too far, so that
railroad rates should not be too much
to impair the profits Of early lambs
and mutton.
Il Already the gulf coast, between New
s Orleans and Mobile, Ala, has won for
Tits wool a most enviable reputation
A the famous Lake" woods, practically
a natural production, Again, COL
Mark Cockerill took the premium for
5 wool at the first Worlds fair, in Lon
dom. from sheep raised in Madison
: county. Miss. At much later day
Z. Mr.. Scott IF i am right in my recol.
$ lections) exhibited wool in Boston
liner than any that had ever been i'm
2 ported there, which had been clipped
4 from his sheep in Kentucky, from
7 breed originated by himself. Nothing
d more need be said on the score o
s wool, SO far as the capability OF thu
y country to ploduce it is concerned. T.
; And / have no trouble to explain thu
a peculiar merits of the Lake" wool, il
y the fact of cross Of the Spanish Me
e rinos introduced away back undel
L Spanish adEainistration) with the ma
r tive sheep. That produced typ
blending extreme fineness and soft
q ness of wool and remarkable health
a fulness. Never feeding on grain, bu
n succulent, n htritious heritage the yea
IS round, there seems to be wool OF er
1t tire evenness of quality, SO differeI
n tiated from change of feed froI
grass to grain, and vice versa.
c. A word as to quality of souther
mutton, and will let one instant
I'd suffice, since all practical sheepme
will deem it conclusive: About 1877
Col. Tom Dabney, of Kinds count.
ne Miss, told me that Gen. John
r. breckenridge, who had been his CUES
< told him that his mutton was quite Il
ly eaual of any he had eaten in ke
- lucky. Col. Dabney's mutton WI
IS. either from thoroughbred or graz
ut Southdowns q forget which now. aft
to such lapse of time). bred and rails
ty on his plantation in Mississippi.
much for the quality of southern wo
er, and mutton. M. B. billiard, in Far
and Fireside.