42 SHEEP INDUSTRY OP THE UNITED STATES 



ported not only sheep but other live stock, especially horses, in the 

 breeding of which she excelled. In July, 1733, Capt. Crow sailed 

 from Ehode Island for St. Christophers, having on deck 14 horses and 

 100 sheep. The vessel was wrecked, and horses and sheep were lost. ' 

 The frequent accounts of such disasters indicate the extent of the trade. 



Ehode Island exported much wool also, considerable quantities being 

 sent to the settlements on the Delaware in West Jersey in 1685, where 

 quite a flourishing woolen manufacture had sprung up. It brought 6d. 

 a pound. 



Wool-growing and the raising of flax, and the manufacture of these 

 staples into cloth, were encouraged by an act of assembly in 1751, and 

 later other acts were passed, notably encouraging the making of wool 

 cards, the mainspring of homespun industry. 



CONNECTICUT. 



Sheep were taken into Connecticut by the first settlers, and in 1640 

 orders were made for their iniTirovement. Their multiplication was very 

 slow, and they were of a very poor kind. Governor John Winthrop, jr., 

 sought their improvement by a purolitise from William Coddington, of 

 Rhode Island, in 1648, of which mention is made on a preceding page. 

 Sheep continued scarce, and in 1660, to encourage the raising of them, 

 they were freed from the taxes jiaid by other cattle, and grounds 

 were the same year ordered to be cleared for their pasturage. Ten 

 years afterward, in 1C70, "for the encouragement of rayseing sheepe," 

 the general court of the colony ordered that every male person in the 

 several plantations 14 years old and upwards, that were not public 

 ofQcers, should worlt one day in Juno of each year in cutting down and 

 clearing the underwood "that so there may be pasture," and the towns- 

 men in the respective towns were to " appoint the places where they 

 shall worke, in the highways or commons or other places agreed upon." 

 Heavy fines were threatened upon all who neglected this duty. 



The same customs for the care of sheep prevailed in Connecticut as 

 in Massachusetts. When they were but few they ran on the house lot 

 or in the streets, and in warm days collected under the meeting-house, 

 but as they increased in numbers the town took cognizance of them 

 and regulated their keeping. In 1693 the general court ordered that 

 all sheep, cattle, and swine above a year old should be marked and 

 the marks be registered in the town book. In most of the towns 

 "viewers" were appointed, wliose office it was to inspect the fields and 

 see that they were closed so as to "turn creturs" when they were let 

 out in the spring; and a kind of sheep council was authorized, acting 

 independently of the town, yet a part of it. 



The cloth manufacture made but slow progress in Connecticut, and 

 not until the close of the century do we find any evidence of fulling- 

 mills. The town book of Waterbury contains an order passed January 

 20, 1692-'93, stating that " there was sequestered the great brook from 



