EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 49 



In particular did the colonial assemblies and the General Congress take 

 decided action. The General Congress, which met September 5, 1774, 

 requested the merchants in the several colonies to import no more goods, 

 and all the people to use their utmost endeavors to improve the breed 

 and increase the number of sheep by killing as few of them as possible, 

 and not exporting them, but selling on moderate terms to their neigh- 

 bors who might need them, and to promote the agriculture and manu- 

 factures of the country, especially that of wool. The Congress of 

 Deputies, which met at Annapolis in December of the same year, re- 

 solved to encourage the breeding of sheep, and to promote the woolen 

 manufacture; and in the same month the Provincial Congress of Massa- 

 chusetts recommended the people to improve their breed of sheep, and 

 the greatest possible increase of the same. The Assembly of Pennsyl- 

 vania recommended the people to abstain from eating, and the butchers 

 from the killing, of sheep, and the association of butchers signed an 

 agreement to that effect in December. In the following year it was 

 ascertained that, in consequence, the number of sheep killed was 20,000 

 less than in 1774, a fact speaking well for the people, and revealing the 

 taste for mutton in Philadelphia, for a consumption that could stand a 

 reduction of this amount must have been considerable. In January, 

 1775, the Provincial Con gress of South Carolina encouraged the raising 

 of cotton and wool by offering generous bounties, and, on March 27, 

 1775, the Convention of Virginia agreed unanimously, and proceeded 

 to urge that, after the 1st of May next, no persons should use in their 

 families, unless in case of necessity, and in no case to sell to butchers, 

 or kill for market, any sheep under 4 years old; and the Georgia Pro- 

 vincial Congress, in July of that year, resolved that they would use 

 their utmost endeavors to improve the breed of sheep and increase their 

 numbers, and to that end would kill them sparingly, would not export 

 them to the West Indies, and would spare their surplus to their neigh- 

 bors ; and they would encourage frugality and industry and promote 

 agriculture and manufactures, especially that of wool. In New Jersey, 

 where the home manufacture was considerable, the legislature, recog- 

 nizing the fact that increasing the quantity of wool, flax, and hemp 

 might be of similar advantage to the inhabitants, enacted that a bounty 

 be given to persons raising or selling the same in the State, and on goods 

 manufactured from sheep's wool the bounty was to be 1 shilling per 

 pound to all raised over and above the amount required for their own 

 family use. 



The war caused a deterioration in the character of the colonial sheep 

 and retarded the increase. The constant drain upon the bone and 

 sinew of the land took the farmers from their homes; flocks were neg- 

 lected or completely lost; the soldiery destroyed many of them, and, 

 save near the large cities, the quality of the mutton sensibly declined. 



Immediately upon the close of the Revolutionary war many citizens 

 of the United States sought to improve their sheep by importations 

 22990 4 



