SHEEP HUSBANDRY—NO. V. 
137 
well, and for as good prices, as the best or pure¬ 
bred, for the American buyers did not, and could 
not then know the difference, nor select the one 
from the other. The very worst lots of sheep, 
many of them worse than worthless, were said to 
have been sent out to this country as a speculation, 
on foreign or German account. 
The sheep procured and brought out by Messrs. 
Searle, were generally thought to be of better 
blood and quality than most of the other Saxons 
which arrived at Boston ; and though many grade 
sheep were imported by them, with and among 
their full bloods, as a commercial speculation, yet 
those gentlemen had the reputation (and I believe 
they deserved it,) of not having any hand or agency 
in bringing out many (if any) of the very worst 
sort. At all events they were believed not to have 
brought out lad sheep intentionally, nor knowing¬ 
ly. 
The Messrs. Searle, finally, toward the close of 
their importations of Saxon sheep, imported, for 
themselves, a flock of very choice, fine ewes, to¬ 
gether with three or four superior rams, not inten¬ 
ded for sale, but (as I was informed,) with the 
laudable object and intention of “keeping up the 
breed” in its purity, in this country. This select 
breeding-flock was during many years, in the 
hands of Mr. Grant of Walpole, N. H., with whom, 
or in whose care, the Messrs. Searle placed the 
flock, to be bred “ on shares.” I understood that 
the flock was finally sold to Mr. Grant, but wheth¬ 
er he retains it, and it still exists in its original 
purity of blood, I am unable to say. It undoubted¬ 
ly comprised some of the very best Saxon blood, 
which was brought out to the United States. I 
was told that the fleeces from that flock, brought 
one year, $1,37-|- per pound; though it may be 
fairly presumed that the odd cents of that price, 
would come nearer expressing its market value at 
some periods since that day, and would perhaps 
have been nearly or quite as much as it would 
some years have brought in the general market; 
the very finest and most exquisite Saxon wool, not 
being duly appreciated nor paid for in this country, 
nor likely to be for many years to come, if ever. 
Speaking of prices of fine Saxon wool in this 
country, I have now before me, a memorandum 
from the pen of Mr. W. J. Miller, of the iveight 
and value at Philadelphia, of the fleeces of the two 
Saxon rams, imported by him in the summer of 
1823, the same which are mentioned herein, as 
having been (if not the earliest,) among the very 
earliest, that were imported from Saxony. These 
fleeces were brought over from Germany on the 
two rams, and shorn soon after their arrival. The 
two fleeces after being washed, weighed together 
7 pounds, (or 3^ pounds each). It consisted as 
follows 
Of 1st quality... .2 lbs. 2 oz., at $2 per lb_$4,25 
2d. ditto.1 lb. 8 oz., at $1,50 per lb... 2,25 
3d. ditto'.. 14 oz., at $1 per lb.0,87| 
4th and 5th, do 
with belly-bits, 2 lbs. 8 oz., at 50 cents. 1,25 
7 lbs. amounting to $8,62^ 
thus of course, making an average value of about 
$1,23 per pound, $4,31 for each fleece. 
The above statement is only valuable and in¬ 
teresting, as an illustration of the views then enter¬ 
tained in this country, as to the price or value of 
Saxon wool. It will serve to show or remind us 
at this day, of the prices per pound for Saxon wool, 
which were held up to the view of our American 
wool-growers, just at the time when the Saxon 
sheep fever was beginning to rise and rage in the 
United States; and will assist in explaining and 
excusing what at this day looks like the almost 
inexcusable folly and madness, that could have led 
our sheep-owners to sacrifice their invaluable 
Merino flocks, for the delicate and infinitely less 
valuable Saxons. Even could those high prices 
for the wool have been maintained, the Saxon 
sheep would have been nothing short of an awfully 
dear bargain to the country, destined as they were, 
to be the instrument of supplanting and destroy¬ 
ing the more valuable Merino flocks. 
After speaking of the select Saxon flock, which 
was placed by Messrs. Searle in the care of Mr. 
Grant of Walpole, I wish to make particular men¬ 
tion of another Saxon flock, of distinguished ex¬ 
cellence, and believed to possess very strong and 
unquestioned claims to purity of blood. I refer to 
the flock of Mr. Henry D. Grove, an occasional 
correspondent of yours, whose contributions to your 
pages I wish could be more frequent. I am al¬ 
ways highly gratified and instructed by what 
comes from his pen. He is a man of worth , as 
well as of intelligence, and his merit is only surpas¬ 
sed by his modesty. Mr. Grove is a thorough Saxon 
shepherd. He first came over from Germany to 
this country about twenty years since, (I think in 
the year 1824,) when quite a young man, in charge 
of one of the earliest importations of Saxon sheep 
made by the Messrs. Searle. He returned to Ger¬ 
many, and having determined to emigrate and es¬ 
tablish himself permanently in this country, he 
selected a flock of choice Electoral Saxon sheep 
for himself, and brought them out to the United 
Slates in the years 1827 and ’28, and located in the 
state of New York. This flock he is understood 
to have bred pure and with entire success, to the 
present time. I have said herein, that Mr. Grove 
is a thorough Saxon shepherd. Of this I need give 
no better evidence than his perfect success in 
raising those delicate and beautiful “hot-house 
plants,” generally known by the name of Saxon 
sheep. Though so difficult a task, in the hands of 
most other persons who have tried it in this coun¬ 
try, Mr. Grove finds in it nothing impossible or dif¬ 
ficult. In his hands the Saxons live and thrive, as 
well as the hardy Merinos do in mine. He is 
probablv the most perfect and thorough shepherd 
in the United States. If I was a man of wealth, 
and wanted to amuse myself with the ownership 
and care of choice and rare animals, and Saxon 
sheep among the rest, I would resort to no one so 
soon, nor with so much confidence, as to Mr. 
Grove, for the purchase ofa little flock of his pure 
Saxons. But I should insist (as a part of the bar¬ 
gain,) on his consenting to take me for a season as 
his pupil , in order that I might note the habits of 
his sheep, and learn his peculiar and successful 
mode of care and treatment, and that I might also 
imbibe from him something of his practical skill 
