EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 53 



had tliey been bred with the care and perseverence which the South- 

 downs received, have been a most valuable breed.* 



But on the immediate seaboard, not only of Massachusetts, but of 

 Connecticut, Rhode Island, Long Island, Xew Jersey, and far to the 

 southward, the sheep were of a motley variety. Our seamen would 

 often bring a rani or ewe or a pair from the countries that they visited, 

 and thus in time the flocks near the coast became extremely various. 



At the close of the century the sheep of Virginia were generally de- 

 scendants of those brought into the colony before the Revolution, with 

 the exception of a few Irish sheep which had been smuggled into the 

 country. The Irish sheep were large and fine, but were not much ex- 

 tended. The generality of the sheep were good, yielding a fair quan- 

 tity of wool and good mutton, better wool, according to George Wash- 

 ington, than that raised elsewhere in the country. 



It may be stated that, as a general thing, very little attention was 

 paid to sheep in any of the States about the year 1800. Every farmer 

 had a certain number of them, sufficient to furnish him with wool for 

 domestic uses. It was not his interest to have more, for as manufac- 

 tures had not arisen and it would not bear exportation, wool was an 

 article scarcely marketable in large quantities. The drovers, also, to 

 make up a lot of fat wethers, had to travel from farm to farm, picking 

 up a few here and a few there. Ko attention being paid to their im- 

 provement, the practice prevailed universally of selecting the very finest 

 vsheep for the table, and the butchers were allowed to do the same from 

 the flocks. The farmers did then with sheep as many do now with 

 potatoes they selected the poorest and smallest for seed. 



The man who, of all others, was the first to improve the breed of native 

 .sheep, of which we have record, was George Washington. Few ever 

 possessed so keen a love for the farm and for rural pursuits and a 

 greater pride in the profession of a farmer than he, and before the war 

 he was known in London as the most reliable planter in Virginia. Im- 

 mediately after the peace of 1783, and his return to the occupation of a 

 farmer, he paid particular attention to his breed of sheep, of which he 

 usually kept from 700 to 800, and from which he realized upon the aver- 

 age over 5 pounds of wool to each sheep. He was a correspondent of 

 Arthur Young, of England, who at the close of the last century was 

 the most intelligent and advanced farmer of England a great traveler, 

 very observant, and a voluminous writer on agricultural matters. 



Writing to Arthur Young, from Mount Vernon, on December 4, 1788, 

 Washington says: 



I would willingly Lave sent you a lock of the wool of my sheep, agreeably to your 

 desire, but it is all wrought into cloth, and I must therefore defer it until after the 

 next shearing. You may expect it by some future conveyance. A manufacturer 

 from Leeds, who was lately here, judges it to be of about the same quality with the 

 English wool in general, though there is always a great difference in the fineness of 



* Report of Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, 1860. 



