264 The Winning of the West 



leans for shipment to the West Indies. 23 They were 

 also always engaged in efforts to improve the breed 

 of their horses and cattle, and to introduce new 

 kinds of agriculture, notably the culture of the 

 vine. 24 They speedily settled themselves definitely 

 in the new country, and began to make ready for 

 their children to inherit their homes after them; 

 though they retained enough of the restless spirit 

 which had made them cross the Alleghanies to be 

 always on the lookout for any fresh region of ex- 

 ceptional advantages, such as many of them consid- 

 ered the lands along the lower Mississippi. They 

 led a life which appealed to them strongly, for it 

 was passed much in the open air, in a beautiful re- 

 gion and lovely climate, with horses and hounds, 

 and the management of their estates and their inter- 

 est in politics to occupy their time; while their 

 neighbors were men of cultivation, at least by their 

 own standards, so that they had the society for 

 which they most cared. 25 In spite of their willing- 



53 Clay MSS., Seitz & Lowan to Garret Darling, Lexing- 

 ton, January 23, 1797; agreement of George Nicholas, Octo- 

 ber 10, 1796, etc. This was an agreement on the part of 

 Nicholas to furnish Seitz & Lowan with all the flour manu- 

 factured at his mill during the season of 1797 for exportation, 

 the flour to be delivered by him in Kentucky. He was to re- 

 ceive $5.50 a barrel up to the receipt of $1,500; after that it 

 was to depend upon the price of wheat. Six bushels of wheat 

 were reckoned to a barrel of flour, and the price of a bushel 

 was put at four shillings ; in reality it ranged from three to six. 



24 Do., "Minutes of meeting of the Directors of the Vine- 

 yard Society," June 27, 1800. 



85 Do., James Brown to Thomas Hart, Lexington, April 3, 

 1804. 



