the rise of sheep-growing in the West. The frontier country provec 

 particularly adapted to the pasturing of flocks, and in competition 

 with the western wool, the number of sheep in the East continued t< 

 decline. By 1890 the whole number of sheep in the New Englan< 

 and Middle Atlantic states, according to the census of that year, wa 

 only 4,278,000. The states that year with over 1,500,000 each wer 

 Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Montana, Utah, New Mexico, California, an< 

 Oregon. The far western states have continued their advance. L 

 1900 they contained 55.78 per cent, of all the sheep in the country, an< 

 in 1910 they contained 58.41 per cent of all the sheep in the country. 



A Brief History of Sheep Raising in Pennsylvania. 



"It is uncertain when sheep were first introduced into the colon) 

 of Pennsylvania." However, in August, 1683, William Penn wrot 

 concerning his colony, "Plenty of cow cattle and some sheep." 13 



One of the first branches of industry that Penn sought to develo; 

 for his colony was the manufacture of woolen cloth, which stimulatec 

 sheep raising. In 1698 woolen mills were established (fulling). L 

 1723 stocking weaving was begun in Chester County. The Govern 

 ment placed the first Tunis sheep to come to America in the hands o 

 Judge Richard Peters, near Philadelphia, in 1799, which greatly im 

 proved the mutton qualities of the sheep in Pennsylvania, and many 

 were sent to southern states. "As early as 1800 14 the New Leiceste 

 was known about Philadelphia." Sheep of an Irish breed were exhib 

 ited at Philadelphia in 1809. Two Dutch breeds, the Texel and Fries 

 land, were introduced about this time, and also English breeds o 

 sheep. 



An organization founded in 1809, and composed of the most prom 

 inent men of Philadelphia and vicinity, known as "The Pennsylvani; 

 Society for the Improvement of Breeds of Cattle," did much to en 

 courage and develop the sheep industry at this period in the state 



The manufacture of wool in the colonies properly began with the 

 first erection of fulling mills, the woolen webs of the hand looms o 

 private families being carried to these mills to receive body and thick 

 ness. It is stated that in 1777 there were 100 stocking weavers a 

 Lancaster, then the largest inland town in the country. 



13 Special Report on Sheep, U. S. Dept. of Agr. 1892, page 29. 

 14 Plumb's "Types and Breeds of Farm Animals," page 430. 



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