INTRODUCTION 11 



to 1860, improvements were made in farm machin- 

 ery very rapidly. 



No less important was the introduction of better 

 grades of live stock. Washington was the founder 

 of the mule raising business in this country. The 

 fine Kentucky breed of mules came from stock 

 sent from Europe as presents to Washington from 

 LaFayette and the King of Spain. Good types 

 of Merino sheep had been smuggled out of Spain 

 before the Napoleonic Wars, and in time vast flocks 

 were developed from this original stock. Durham 

 cattle were imported from England to Kentucky in 

 1817. In the same year Henry Clay introduced the 

 first Herefords into this country. The first thor- 

 oughbred stallion was brought from England to 

 New Jersey in 1788. These are significant facts with 

 reference to live stock farming in this country, and 

 they indicate the possibilities that were ahead of 

 agricultural enterprise in the vast undeveloped areas 

 of the Middle West. 



Increasing attention was being given to the scien- 

 tific aspects of farming throughout this period. 

 Scientific farming had its development in England 

 in the eighteenth century, due to the work of Arthur 

 Young, Jethro Tull, Viscount Townshend, Robert 

 Bakewell, and others. American farmers showed 

 little interest in improved methods of production 

 during the Colonial period, but after the Revolution 

 a knowledge of English methods was disseminated 

 widely. By the beginning of the Civil War agri- 



