The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-07-26
EnoNm.uDED FROM PAGE 1 j

81 E06u III Lu6 uC4O6s Al @OS
no fields for the sheep to pasture on,
we have no sheep. This is one OF the
most surprising neglects and faults OF
our farming in the South.
But what sheep we have are quite
inferior in kind. They are taken with
out any intelligent choice. One ac-
uuires a flock of the kind because none
better is known of Oh in reach. And
without any settled method of improve
ment we can hope for but little profit
from what we have, or any popular
interest in lettering it. And yet we
are by no means slow to catch on when
some one else leads the way and makes
it smooth and easy to follow. And In
regard to sheep, I may say that when
about q dozen years ago 1 imported
some of the Qhevoit mountain sheep
to improve my flock of common sheep
In Macon county, N. O., 1 found quite
an interested desire on the part OF
neighbors to get as much benefit from
them as possible.
And a neighbor who brought here a
flock of Shropshires and has keptthem
until quite recently, has never wanted
buyers for all the spare rams at the
profitable prices Of ten, down to i've
dollars each, and thus the dark faces
of this breed have become common all
over this county. But this is only a
trivial matter as compared with what
has been done by leading breeders In
the South, especially in Kentucky,
where there are some Of the best South,
downs in existence.
Now these sheep mentioned are all
mutton sheep as well as good wool pro
ducers. And mutton is not a popular
meat here. But why not7 1t is the
most digestible and nutritious OF all
meats. 1t is tender, and if we'll fed, is
of the very best flavor. Why 1t should
be otherwise is easily explained by the
unskillful ann of dressing the car
cass.. This l will not discuss now, but
at another time. But a we'll fed sheep
properly dressed makes beyond a ques
tion the best of all kinds Of meat. 1t
ia a very convenient kind, too, for g
lamb. as in the time of Abraham, who
entertained his angel visitor with a
'lamb tender and good" is quickly
made ready for the table at any time,
and ia not too much to keep in good
condition, while a small family is max
ing away with it. But / would espe,
cially impress on your readers the ad-
vantage and profit to be derived from
the feeces of the f0cks. We pay out
millions of dollars a year to foreigners
for wool to make III own clothing,
when we might grow u own wool for
less than half what we pay to them for
what we buy. 1t is one Of the most
effective means of getting rich to pro-
duce everything we a for u Own
use. and sell as much as we can for the
money. The South has been enriched
by the cotton crops Of a century. 1t
has brought into the South more money,
four times over, than all the gold mines
in the world, all these years.
But woolis an equally common staple
for the worlds clothing, and we can
grow wool for half the cost OF that
grown anywhere else on account OF
u mild and genial winters, n which
pastures will support the focks, and
lambs may come at the new year IN
the open fields. The very lay of the
land favors the keeping OF sheep. We
have u ranges of mountains and hills,
with the slopes down to the low lands,
where the cotton fourishe5. Grass
grows 80 abundantly that some dis
heartened farmers, unable to CHECK
the growth of it, have sacrificed then
farms to others who have made the
whole purchase money back the first
wear eff this hateful grass. There II
no other grass land in the world, and
noIocality where so many fodder plants
may be grown, and none where SO lit
tie hand feeding is needed for a flock
as in the South. We have as many
acres lying idle in old field, weshine
and wasting it's natural fertility by
neglect, as would feed everyone OF the
forty million sheep kept now in the
United States, and these might bring
in a profit of in all a full hundred mil
lions of dollars every year. This i
far more than we are making of oul
cotton crop in the shape of profit, o.
even of income over money actually
spent on it. Think of it, that the Eng
lish farmer pays the high rent of hi
land, rarely less than 81 to $40 an acre
mostly from the income from sheep
He calls the sheep the rent payer. AM
it is this surely. We have here in tn