50 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



from abroad and by greater care of those already possessed. Much 

 was done in the latter respect, but England was too jealous to permit 

 any of her improved sheep to be used for the purpose of increasing the 

 wool product of her rivals, and prohibited by stringent laws their ex-3 

 portation from the kingdom. At the dictation of the English manu- 

 facturers old acts were revived and condensed into a new act which 

 passed the English Parliament and received the royal assent in 1788, 

 whereby the exportation of sheep (except wethers for sea stock, upon- 

 special license) was prohibited, under the penalty of forfeiture of the^ 

 sheep and the vessel carrying them, together with 3 sterling for every] 

 sheep, and also three months 7 solitary confinement, to be inflicted on j 

 every person concerned or assisting for the first offense, and heavier 

 fines and imprisonment for repeated transgressions. Nor could sheep 

 be carried across any tide river or inlet of the sea within the kingdom 

 without bond being given that they should not be exported. Means, 

 however, were found to evade this law, and numbers found their way; 

 to our Atlantic ports, but it is extremely difficult to trace them ; nor id 

 it a matter of much moment, for they left but small mark upon the 

 native flocks, save in one or two recorded instances. 



Tench Coxe, writing in 1704, regretted the inattention paid to thel 

 raising of wool, but thought it must become much more abundant as] 

 the country became populated. Mutton, he contended, was the bests 

 meat for cities, manufactories, seminaries of learning, and poor-houses, 

 and should be given by rule, as in England. The settlement of new] 

 lands, remote from water carriage, must introduce much more new] 

 pasturage and grazing than had been before necessary, as sheep, horses, j 

 and horned cattle would carry themselves to market through roads im-^ 

 passable by wagons. The foreign restrictions upon our trade would 

 also tend to increase the number of sheep. Horses and horned cattle \ 

 formerly constituted a great part of the New England cargoes for the 

 English West India Islands; then these animals were exported to those] 

 places in smaller numbers, as American vessels were excluded from the] 

 ports. The farms, capital, and men formerly employed in raising them] 

 would want a market for their usual quantity, and the nature of that! 

 country being unfit for grain, sheep of necessity would occupy a greatj 

 proportion of their lands. Though sheep were bred in all parts on 

 America, yet 



The most populous scenes in the Middle States and the Eastern States have boon] 

 long settled, and, particularly the latter, are the places where they thrive best. In j 

 the Eastern or New England States they form one of the greatest objects of thefarm-1 

 er's attention and one of his surest sources of profit. The demand for wool, which! 

 has of late increased exceedingly with the rapid growth of our manufactures, will addl 

 considerably to the former great profits of sheep ; and the consumption of their meat] 

 by the manufacturers will render them still more profitable.* 



A ISTew England writer, three years later, treating of the sheep of the 



*" A View of the United States of America." Tench Coxe, Philadelphia, 1794. 



