138 SHEEP OF THE UNITED STATES AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



Mr. Flower states, that the diseases to which sheep are 

 subjected on the prairies of Southern Illinois, are liver-rot 

 and foot-rot ; the former caused by " suffering sheep to pas- 

 ture on land that is overflowed with water ; even a crop of 

 green oats, early in the fall before a frost comes, has been 

 known to rot young sheep." He observes, that sheep fed 

 exclusively on pasture are more liable to foot-rot than others. 



The following communication, written at the request of 

 the writer, by J. Ambrose Wight, associate editor of the 

 Prairie Farmer, sets forth the extent to which Northern Illi- 

 nois is adapted to sheep culture ; and, in the main, his re- 

 marks are doubtless applicable to the prairies of all the North- 

 western States and Territories. There is manifestly so much 

 ignorance prevalent on this subject, no apology is necessary 

 for the minuteness with which Mr. Wight has treated it. 



" It is but a little while since wool-growing was com- 

 menced in Northern Illinois. Small flocks, of from ten to a 

 hundred, have been kept here since the first settlement of the 

 country, consisting generally of hardy, coarse-wooled ani- 

 mals ; and though the success of the business, when con- 

 ducted in this manner, might be proof of the adaptation of 

 the country to the keeping of sheep, to a certain extent, it 

 would not be entirely satisfactory to one who should ask the 

 question, whether the country were adapted to growing fine 

 wool on a large scale. It is now about four years since a 

 commencement was made of driving in large flocks for this 

 latter purpose ; since which time the increase has been about 

 one hundred per cent, yearly, until last season, when the in- 

 crease was so much larger, that no accurate estimate can yet 

 be made of it. 



" In order to answer your inquiries the more satisfactorily, 

 I will take them up in their order. 



" First — ' I would be glad to know whether the pasture of the 

 prairies dries so much in summer as to compel the removal of 

 sheep from them to other localities V 



" If the question relates, as I suppose it does, to summer 

 drought, I answer no ; the upland prairies — a term which I 

 suppose embraces nineteen twentieths, if not more, of the 

 prairie lands of Northern Illinois — sustain drought better by 

 far than any lands I have ever known. A large component 

 of all these lands — and the remark applies as well to what 

 are here called ' barrens ' — is black sand ; though the color 

 varies much in diflferent localities. The ashes made by the 



