PRAIRIE MANAGEMENT. 135 



of the fleece, which had been so many years prostrate and 

 dormant. Accordingly the Saxons were soon after intro- 

 duced; and notwithstanding the gross frauds which were 

 practised by bringing with them so many worthless speci- 

 mens of the race, and the untoward circumstances which 

 since then wool-growers have been obliged to contend 

 against, the exertions to perfect the fleece have been crown- 

 ed with much success, though by no means commensurate 

 with its importance. 



The New England States, from the unkindness of the soil 

 peculiar to large portions of them for the cultivation of crops, 

 at an early day became distinguished for the growing of 

 wool, and yet maintain their high rank, not only for the ex- 

 tent of its production, but the fineness of its texture. There 

 are Saxon flocks in Connecticut and New Hampshire which 

 rival some of the best German ; and Merinos also in nearly 

 all of these States, whose fleeces surpass in weight and fine- 

 ness those of Spain at the present day, and equal the far- 

 famed RambouiUets of France. 



The State of New York has within her borders more than 

 one quarter of all the sheep in the Union ; and in the aggre- 

 gate, the wool of her flocks is unsurpassed in quality by that 

 of any other State. 



The State of Pennsylvania, although she has fewer sheep 

 by far than her soil is capable of supporting, yet on her west- 

 ern borders, especially in the county of Washington, she has 

 flocks that are rarely equalled. 



Ohio too is far advanced in wool culture, and the flocks 

 descended from the celebrated sheep of Messrs. Wells and 

 Dickinson, formerly of Steubenville, ^ are of very superior 

 quality, the wool of which is distinguished for length and 

 silkiness pf staple. 



From Pennsylvania and Ohio have sprung, principally, the 

 colonies of sheep which are now present on the western 

 prairies, and which leads to the subject of wool culture on 

 those immensg plains. 



The following extracts are from a pamphlet on the subject 

 of Prairie Management, written by Mr. George Flower, and 

 published in 1841. Mr. Flower has been a resident of Ed- 

 wards County, Illinois, since 1817, and during the whole 

 of this period, a manager and proprietor of fine-wooled sheep. 



"A glance must now be taken at the difficulties and risks 

 to which flocks are exposed in new countries, and which 



