Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-04-23
sheep Culture for Georgia Farmers

Dear Mrs. FELTON,: have been reading
your good letters for a long while and
think you are doing a good work.
When The journal comes 1 look for
vour mage first because you talk SO
much like my dear old mother and grand
ma both OF whom have been dead sew
eraI years / am anxious 10 see what
good. live subject you are going TO write
on. I wish The Journal was a daily pa
per and you could write every day.
Your fetter on the tariff ION wool April
the 9Th. interested me. for 1 do love the
little woOlly sheep and ! like to wear the
cood wooden stockings and wooden
clothes that can be made OF wool
Dear Mrs. FELTON,. the dogs destroy a
heap Of sheep. know, but our men
folks destroy more than the dogs In this
Part Of Georgia The most Of them don
want anything but cotton Cotton is king
OF all in this part Of the country Chart
county,. Last fall I had six fine tur-
KEYS and my next door neighbor threw
a stone and broke the leg OF the finest
gobbIer I had. because the turkeys stray
ed in his cotton patch. He. complained
they were knocking out his cotton The
turkeys were not over 300 yards from
home; 50 you see we can't raise turkeys;
much less sheep. once kept two or three
sheep simply 10 go with my COW. / had
one eve that I kept Is years and I never
saw her ten steps away from the COW.
She would jump a high fence to follow.
/ had 10 carry my COW half mile
through the field to the pasture and the
sheep would follow. She would never
bite a blade OF corn: walked along Gloss
behind the COW and when she got home
or out TO the pasture she just walked ia
ike the COW did. think every farmer
who is able TO keep a cow could keep a
sheep. TIE sheep win live on the waste
OF a COW. There is always some food
that win drop on the ground or on ma
nure I'm a place where the COW is fed and
the sheep VIII pick il up. Sheep will eat
weeds and grass in the pasture that the
COW viii not eat One or two good sheep
Will yield enough wool for a common
sized family a whole year The people
have done away with the old manner
OF rasinig and consuming the wool. But
they could have wooden mills built again
as wei as cotton mills IL the farmers
would raise the wool which they can 90.
II they would I do believe We would
not have SO much consumption in our
land II the people would wear more heavy
wooden clothes. In my mothers time
there were few cases Of consumption and
the women and children wore heavy wool
stockings and underwear. I can remem-
Ter when mother. would weave all my
dresses and in winter our dresses were
made OF linsey. but nowadays they do
not wear any wool at all. II they do
buy wool cloth II is a little in a top
dress spun as fine as wool can be spur
The most Of our women want something
fine and stylish. They do not care fol-
the comfort there is in a wooden gar
ment Heavy cotton will keep the BODY
warm. but IL will not keep out the
dampness like wool cloth
spinning wheel and a woman knitting
would be show 10 the most OF the
young folks of today. I spin and knit
for my family OF five, and I can't see
how working people can do without wool
socks and stockings. / have two little
girls and IL God spares them (and mel
am going TO learn them how to card and
spin and knit / know a farmer can
keep two or three sheep with the cows in
spite OF the dogs The sheep will go
20 the cows for protection and they win
drive the dogs away. A sheep is a sensi-
bic as well as a harmless animal They
know who cares for them But we can't
tell cotton farmer anything. They know
II all They will say. we can't raise
hogs because there Is no acOTns. and we
cant raise sheep because there is no mors
woodland to pasture them and we can't