Page:Evolution of American Agriculture (Woodruff).djvu/48

44 The idea of horse-power not only brought about the invention of labor-saving machines, but it induced the importation and breeding of better, more dependable horses. The Morgan, all-purpose horse, has been mentioned, but it was the importation of the two Percheron horses, Louis Napoleon and Normandy, in 1851, that gave the breeding of draft animals a generous boost in this country. The thoroughbred stallion, Denmark, brought to Kentucky in 1839, became the founder of the breed of American saddle horses.

Hogs continued to multiply with the increase in corn production, the center of hog breeding moving Westward with the corn center and, after 1861, Chicago became the center of the pork-packing industry.

Sheep did not make any proportionate increase during the period, but cattle increased, especially in the West. There was a systematic effort to improve the breeds and the breeding of Shorthorns received a great impulse in 1834 by the organization of the Ohio Company for Importing English Cattle, and before the close of the period some famous bulls brought as high as $5,000 per head.

The settlement of the prairie states caused a considerable decline of agriculture in the East, especially in New England, and by 1840 there was a strong movement of farmers out of that section. General farming in competition with the West was no longer possible but in suitable locations, dairying and market gardening were especially profitable and a movement for the importation of dairy cattle became quite strong. In 1853 there were seventy-five