| "The old Leicester sheep were known in Virginia at an early day, if they did not, indeed, form the foundation of most of her flocks. Previous to the war of the Revolution some individuals of the Bakewell improved or New Leicester sheep were brought into the colonies, principally into New Jersey and Virginia, but they had no general effect upon the sheep husbandry of that day, and at the close of the war the blood had run out. The stringent English laws against the exportation of sheep from the British Isles prevented the American agriculturalist from participating in the great improvement made in the English sheep from 1750 to 1810, yet, under some difficulties and at much risk, these laws were broken and evaded, and cunning or enterprising sea captains and others smuggled sheep out of British parts and landed them in America. Washington, as it appears had some descendants of the smuggled stock, particularly, as he says of the Bakewell (Leicester) breed." (p87) |
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"The man who, of all others, was the first to improve the breed of native sheep, of which we have record, was George Washington. Few ever possessed so keen a love for the farm and for rural pursuits and a greater pride in the profession of farmer than he, and before the war he was known in London as the most reliable planter in Virginia. Immediately after the peace of 1783, and his return to the occupation of farmer, he paid particular attention to his breed of sheep, of which he usually kept from 700-800, and from which he realized upon the average over 5 pounds of wool to each sheep." (p53)
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| Excerpt from a letter from George Washington to Arthur Young:
“Bakewell’s breed of sheep are much celebrated, and deservedly, I presume; but if intrusted to a common bailiff (or with us is called an overseer) they would, I should apprehend, soon disintegrate, for want of that care and attention which is necessary to preserve the breed of its purity. But the great impediment is in the British statutes; these discourage men of delicacy, in this country, from attempting what might involve the master of a vessel of serious consequences if detected in the breach of them. Others, however, less scrupulous, have attempted to import English rams with success, and by this means our flocks in many places are much improved -- mine, for instance, though I never was concerned, directly, or indirectly, in the importation of one, further than by buying lambs which have descended from them.” (p55) |
| New Leicester Ram |
| New Leicester Ewe |
| Leicester Longwool Sheep |
| “...the American sheep, although somewhat different in various districts, consisted chiefly of a coarse kind of Leicester, and those were originally of British breed." |
| Illustrations and information excerpted from: Special Report on the History and Present Condition of the Sheep Industry of the United States Published by Authority of the Secretary of Agriculture D.E. Salmon, Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry 1892 |
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