FIRST AMERICAN IMPORTATIONS 257 



they already had the key that was to unlock stores 

 of gold greater than even Pizzaro coveted. They 

 had the Indian corn. 



"All around the happy village 



Stood the maize fields green and shining." 



" Squaw farming/' while not scientific, was sug- 

 gestive. The possibilities of the corn plant were ob- 

 vious. Its culture by these Virginians led inevit- 

 ably to cattle; and once they had progressed that 

 far it was only a question of a little time until some 

 enterprising member of the community was certain 

 to conceive the idea of engrafting upon their unim- 

 proved stock the blood of the better breeds that were 

 known to graze in the distant pastures of the 

 motherland. 



As to who made the original purchases we cannot 

 at this date be entirely certain. Tradition has it 

 that while the foundations of the great industry 

 soon to be carried over the Blue Eidge into the Ohio 

 Valley and the west were being laid in the Old Do- 

 minion, an importation of Heref ords was made into 

 Virginia by a Mr. W. C. Eives, but authentic rec- 

 ords in reference to such shipment (if made) are 

 not available. The .known fact is that Messrs. 

 Gough and Miller made certain importations of 

 the old Teeswater (Shorthorn or Durham) and 

 other stock into Maryland and Virginia about 1786, 

 and that the descendants of these cattle were bred 

 and handled with profit for a long series of years 

 by the pioneer graziers and feeders of that period. 



Under the name of "Patton stock " so called be- 



