Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1895-11-28
wool .Ahp MUTTON.
An Interesting Matter for Consideration
by Southern Farmers.


bysouthern Farmers i,
| have read again and again. with
undated Interest, the letter OF z. M.
Bell ih'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.
| 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 ipto .the'sheeP businessI
we should,sppn have such a type.
There could hardly be dcvised.a bett
ter scheme of legitimate money-malst
ing and more benefcent innovation
than for a Syndicate to buy large
tract of land south, where there is pert
petual heritage, clear, perennial
streams, and'a dry foot" fol- the
sheep, and put Mr.. Bell in charge OF
it. designate no area, although I
know several 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.
Already the gulf coast, between New
Orleans and Mobile, Ala, has won fot
its wool most enviable reputation
the famous Lake" woods, practically
natural ,production;. Again, Coll
Mark Cockerill took the premium for
wool at the first Worlds fair, in Lon1
don, from sheep raised in Madison
county, Miss. At much later day
Mr.. Scott Of l am right in my recpl1
lections) exhibited wool in Boston
finer than any that had ever been im1
ported there, which had been clipped
from his sheep in Kentucky, from q
breed originated by himself. Nothing
more need be said on the score OF
wool, so far us the capability of the
country to produce it is concerned.
And have no trouble to explain the
peculiar merits of the flake" wool, in
the fact of cross OF the Spanish Me-
rinos introduced away back under
Spanish administration with the ma.
tive sheep. That producetlia type
blending extreme fneness and soft
ness of wool and remarkable health.
fulness. Never feeding on.grain;' but
succulent, nutritious heritage the year
round, there seems to be a, wool of en-.
tire evenness OF quality, so differen
tiated from a change of feed from
grass to grain, and vice versa. III
A word as to quality of southern
mutton, and / will let one instance
suffice, since all practical sheepmer
will deem 1t conclusive: About 1878
Col Tom Dabney, of Kinds county
Miss, told me that Gen. John C
Breckenridge, who had been his guest
told him that his mutton was quite the
equal of any he had eaten in Ken
lucky. Col Dabney's mutton wal
either from thoroughbred or grad,
Southdowns Il forget which now, aftel
such lapse Of time), bred and raised
on his plantation in Mississippi. 81
much for the quality of southern WOO
and mutton. M. B. billiard, in Farm
and Fireside.