EAST OP THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 75 



tion of Merino sheep in 1785. It did not get the desired Merino, but it 

 greatly encouraged the improvement of the native or old Enghsh sheep, 

 Avhich yielded a fine wool but not a heavy fleece. In June, 1807, a cor- 

 respondent laid before the society six pieces of cloth manufactured in 

 Rhode Island from South Carolina wool shorn from 65 sheep. The 

 wool weighed ISOJ pounds, or an average of 3 pounds to a sheep, and 

 was valued at 25 cents per pound when cleaned and prepared for weav- 

 ing. The South Carolina wool was considered superior to English wool, 

 and it was found so well adapted to mixing with cotton that renewed 

 attention was called to the breeding of sheep, and on October 20, 1808, 

 the governor advocated an extension of domestic manufactures, partic- 

 ularly for all articles of clothing, for which cotton and the rapidly in- 

 creasing breeding of sheep gave them the material. In May preced- 

 ing, Henry Izard, further to improve the flne-wooled sheep of the 

 State, bought a Merino ram of Dr. James Mease, of Philadelphia. 



In April, 1809, several prominent gentlemen of Philadelphia and 

 vicinity, for the purpose of ascertaining what cattle of improved breeds 

 were in the country and to give opportunity for the more easy diffu- 

 sion of valuable stock, formed themselves into what they termed the 

 " Pennsylvania Society for Improving the Breed of Cattle," and issued 

 an address setting forth the objects for which they organized. They 

 set out with the declaration that although the cattle of the Northern 

 States in general were the best formed in the country, and with the ad- 

 vantage of good pasture made as good beef as any part of the world 

 could boast of, yet it could not be denied that there was much room for 

 improvement, which was not to be wondered at, when it was considered 

 that in England, where the attention of numerous persons had been 

 successively directed to the improvement of every species of domestic 

 animals, it was acknowledged by the best authorities that even at that 

 day good cattle were extremely scarce and commanded very high prices. 

 The present was considered a favorable time for the commencement of 

 a change in stock, and it was thought many circumstances combined to 

 render the undertaking highly propitious. The attention of more per- 

 sons of capital than formerly was then directed to the cultivation of the 

 earthy the taste for education and the means of obtaining it were rap- 

 idly diffusing throughout the country; the spirit for settling our new 

 lands was yearly increasing; population was augmenting to a degree 

 unexampled, owing to the enjoyment of peace, the productiveness of 

 labor, and the freedom and equality of our religious and political insti- 

 tutions, which invited the peaceful and oppressed from all nations to 

 our shores. 



There was, moreover, another advantage of infinite consequence, the 

 experience of European improvers. Their plans of procedure were be- 

 fore the world; the errors they had committed had been pointed out, 

 and comparison showed the superiority of the present improved stock 

 over the former breeds abroad and in some respects over our own. It 



