But in no way did the gentlemen farmers serve their country better than in the improvement of livestock, not so much by selective breeding of native cattle as by importations from abroad. The results of Robert Bakewell’s experiments in England had marked a revolution: the average beef cattle had increased from about three hundred to eight hundred pounds. Three Marylanders sent an agent, Matthew Patton, to England to acquire specimen of robust Durham livestock; in 1794 Patton brought some of these robust cattle to Kentucky, and a few years later his son took others to Ohio. In another five years, descendants of these cattle were being driven back across the mountains. In 1817, Henry Clay introduced Herefords into Kentucky, and during the 1820s the familiar British dairy breeds – Alderney and Guernseys – were imported in increasing numbers, followed by Jerseys and Ayrshires. Beef fattening became an important industry in Connecticut and southern Pennsylvania, but dairy stock was more esteemed in most sections of the East. In 1790, eighty-five pounds of butter was thought in Massachusetts to be a good annual yield for a cow; by 1830, that average had been doubled, thanks to better breeding and more intelligent care.
At the opening of the 19th century it would have taken a bold prophet to foretell that the United States would eventually become the chief pork-producing area of the world. American farmers had made gains, some with native animals but more with importations. During the last years of the 18th century came a notable consignment from the Duke of Bedford to George Washington. Quakers in Chester County, Pennsylvania, starting in 1820 with swine from Bedfordshire, developed a famous breed which bore their county’s name throughout the nation. Other stock of Chinese strain added weight and succulence to pork in many sections of the country, and by 1830 the Berkshires had arrived, arousing an unprecedented interest and causing a flurry of speculation.
One of the most sensational episodes in the agricultural history of America resulted from the importation of Spanish sheep. The average flock of 1800, despite efforts of a few leaders like George Washington, was no better than that of 1700. But early in the 19th century, two Frenchmen living in America, M. DuPont de Nemours and M. Delessert, and two American diplomats, Robert Livingston and David Humphreys, introduced specimens of merinos, the finest sheep in the world. They attracted little attention until 1808, when American farmers began to see the possibilities of a market for raw wool and in the attempts to manufacture textiles that would replace English imports cut down by war and embargo. Humphreys, Livingston and DuPont, among others, established woolen mills, and by 1810 at least two dozen existed. Merino rams were now quoted at $1,000, at $1,500 and even $2,000, but such prices could not long be maintained, especially after thousands of Spanish sheep arrived in 1810 and 1811. Better stock and better markets soon established commercial wool growing in the United States. Pastoral profits meant much to the Northeast until western competition toward the middle of the century brought the industry into decline.
It was natural that these country gentlemen should seek each others company for discussion. As early as 1784, the South Carolina Agricultural Society had been established, but its interest was somewhat specialized in rice culture. Far more influential was the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, formed in 1785. New York and Massachusetts were soon in a friendly rivalry, and county societies were organized and developed. One of the most progressive was that of Albermarle County, Virginia, over which Madison presided and for which Thomas Jefferson wrote the platform of objectives. In 1803, as a sort of capstone, there was formed in Washington the American Board of Agriculture, a society whose list of leading members might serve as a roll of the chief statesmen of the country.
But even as late as 1830, American agriculture was not noticeably different from what it had been in 1790. Farm machinery, which was to effect a revolution in production, had scarcely taken form; the railroad, which was to bring large areas into market contacts, was still merely a curiosity. State and federal experiment stations and scientific services and the great university schools of agriculture were still in the distant future. Yet new forces were at work, set in motion almost entirely by the precept and example of gentlemen amateurs, who had the time to read and discuss, and who had the capital to test new methods and materials.
