Travels Through North America 



English, exceedingly short. Upon the best inquiry 

 I could make, I was not able to discover that any 

 one had ever seen a staple of American wool longer 

 than seven inches; whereas in the counties of Lin- 

 coln and Leicester, they are frequently twenty-two* 

 inches long. In the southern colonies, at least in 

 those parts where I travelled, there is scarcely any 

 herbage ;f and whether it is owing to this, or to the 

 excessive heats, I am ignorant, the wool is short and 

 hairy. The northern colonies have indeed greater 

 plenty of herbage, but are for some months covered 

 with snow; and without a degree of attention and 

 care in housing the sheep, and guarding them against 

 accidents, and wild beasts, which would not easily 

 be compensated, it would be very difficult to in- 

 crease their numbers to any great amount. The 

 Americans seem conscious of this fact, and, not- 

 withstanding a very severe prohibition, contrive to 

 procure from England every year a considerable 

 number of rams, in order to improve and multiply 

 the breed. What the lands beyond the Allegheny 

 and upon the banks of the Ohio may be, I do not 

 know; they are said to be very rich: but the climate 

 I believe is not less severe; and I think, upon col- 

 lating different accounts, that the severity of heat 

 and cold is not much abated by cultivation. The 



* The common average length, I am told, is about sixteen inches. 



f I speak of the country in general; in particular spots, as at 

 Greenway Court, the herbage is very fine and luxuriant. 



