Horse RAIsInG IN CoLOoNIAL New ENGLAND 915 
needed supplies for the sugar plantations. Also, in Jamaica and in 
Santo Domingo, in spite of their own abundance of livestock, numerous 
instanees are recorded of their continued importation throughout the 
period (128). Lastly, the demand for saddle horses was a continuous 
and important one in all the sugar colonies and, further, was a demand 
which grew with the general increase in the wealth of the planters. 
In short, it would seem that whatever decrease in the demand for 
horses may have resulted from the shift in the center of sugar produc- 
tion and changes in the method of manufacture, such decrease was 
fully balanced by the mere aggregate of the demand from the steadily 
increasing number of the plantations and the extensiveness of their 
operations. 
Throughout the whole period from 1700 to 1775, therefore, there 
existed in the West Indies a ready market for horses which was taken 
full advantage of by the New England colonies, following the begin- 
ning already made in this sort of trade before 1700. During the later 
period, however, the trade was not confined to the British islands, as 
formerly, but had extended to those belonging to the Dutch and the 
French as well; it was better organized and on a much more extensive 
seale; and, though interrupted in various ways from time to time, it 
had come to be an important part of the commerce of New England and 
remained so until the War of the Revolution. 
DEVELOPMENT OF COMMERCIAL HORSE RAISING FROM 1700 TO 1775 
The steadily widening market for horses which was opened up dur- 
ing the period from 1700 to 1775 has just been described. It is apparent 
also, from the evidence given, that New England took full advantage 
of the opportunity for exporting horses which was thus presented. 
There now remains to be considered the resulting development which 
took place in New England itself during this same period, whereby 
the raising of horses on a commercial scale became an important 
industry. 
For the beginning of this development no exact date can be set, but 
early efforts along this line before 1700 have already been indicated — 
as, for example, the plans of John Hull and his associates in the Pet- 
tiquamseut Purchase in Rhode Island. Most of the early shipments of 
horses to Barbados and the other British colonies prior to 1700, how- 
