Few of the American flocks exceed {183} twenty; but most of those who keep a few, shut them up at night to protect them from the wolves. Bears, I believe, never destroy sheep, at least I never heard of it.
The Americans keep sheep for the sake of their wool, which is manufactured into various articles of clothing; and at most of their cabins you may see carding, spinning, and weaving going forward; for to give the American women their due, many of them are truly industrious, as they manufacture most parts of their dress; and as they grow the cotton, flax, and wool, it comes reasonable.
These Americans hold mutton in the utmost contempt, and I have heard them say, people who eat it belong to the family of wolves. And many of them, who in the summer are sometimes short of meat, when their bacon is exhausted, would live on corn-bread for a month, rather than eat an ounce of mutton, veal, rabbit, goose, or duck. Their dislike arises from prejudice, {184} as many of them have never tasted these things. But I have heard a few of them say they like mutton; but even if fond of it, they will never purchase it, for fear of the scoffs of their neighbours. I do not intend to keep any sheep till I am better prepared for them. Wool sells, on a small scale, for half a dollar a lb., without much regard to its fineness, which is the reason why sheep are higher than mutton, as a sheep of fifty lbs. weight will fetch from two dollars fifty cents to three dollars; whereas, at five cents per lb., the very top price for mutton, the same sheep would only fetch two dollars fifty cents. Very few sheep are therefore killed here, as the butcher cannot afford to sell for five cents per lb., the same as beef, as their skins are of little or no value. Fat for candles sells high, ten cents a lb., twice the price of meat.
Pigs are numerous, being easily raised: they are of various sorts; but many of them {185} are of a sandy colour, and some with wattles; that is, a piece of flesh, about two inches long and half an inch thick, growing out on their cheeks. They are of middling size, but from very hard keep, they do not rise to much weight. It is not uncommon for one person to have from sixty to a hundred running in the woods, and left to shift for themselves, except giving them now and then a little salt. During the summer, when grass and herbs are dry, and before the masts begin to fall, it is almost impossible to describe how excessively poor they are. Most of them run till they are two, and sometimes three years old, before they are killed; and, in general, they have but little fattening. Some years, when there is a large quantity of acorns, hiccory-nuts, &c., they are said to get good pork. A hog of two hundred lbs. weight is here called a fine chunk of a fellow, and few exceed that weight; though many, if well kept and made fat, would weigh three hundred lbs. weight, {186} and some of them are large enough to weigh four hundred lbs. weight. They do not, in general, produce many at a time; I do not recollect I ever saw more than nine, and this number is very unusual. We frequently lose some, as the bears and wild cats make free with them. Many of the Americans tie a bell round the neck of one of their old hogs, to keep the gang, as they call it, together. It is also common to bell horses and cows, when running at large. The price of pigs varies very much: it is generally very low; but much dearer in September and October than in any other part of the year, as the masts are then near falling. Pork last year from four to five dollars per hundred lbs. weight, which, on an average, is less than two-pence halfpenny a lb.; and in Indiana it was cheaper than with us. Pigs are generally killed by the seller, and after they are scalded, they are carried to the buyer, as it is very difficult to drive wild pigs in a country like this. And as to the fattening bestowed on them, it only {187} enables them to run much faster than ever they could before.
A farrier and cow-leech are here nearly unknown, as most people doctor their own horses and cattle; they are subject to many disorders unknown in England, particularly to sore mouths; it first comes in the tongue, and proceeds towards the throat. The first mare I purchased was taken with it soon after I had her; I was on a journey; I found it first by her foaming much at the mouth; I examined her tongue, and found it was getting a little sore. I had heard of a remedy for this complaint, and I determined to apply it as soon as possible. I called on Mr. Slocum, whom I knew, and procured some alum and copperas, and pounding a small quantity of each, I tied it in a rag round the bit of my bridle, and when I got home I renewed the application. As horses with this disease can seldom eat corn, I tied mine up out of doors on a piece of timothy grass, and gave her as many pompions as {188} she would eat. Once a-day I put on her bridle, as before, and kept it on an hour. She soon got well, without losing any flesh; but many horses that have had it have been reduced almost to skeletons before they were cured, and some have died of it. I think it is a very dangerous disorder if neglected at first; and it is catching, by horses eating at the same manger. Some cows and pigs have caught it by eating the remainder of the corn left by horses. Some geese likewise had it. The fret is sometimes fatal. I have not seen one broken-winded, and but very few blind horses in America.
The poultry are—fowls, geese, and ducks; I have seen but few turkeys or guinea-fowls. Fowls are in very great abundance, and now sell for 12½ cents, (6¾ d.) A dozen of eggs is, generally, the price of one chicken. Geese and ducks are kept by the Americans for the sake of their feathers, and not for sale or to eat. They pick them six or eight times in a year, nearly naked {189} except their wings; they look extremely bad for some time after they are picked, but, in the summer, they get full feathered in about a month. I last year saw some very naked late in November. We have not picked ours, at which the Americans express much surprise, as the feathers are their only motive for keeping them. The geese are, I think, finer flavoured than in England, as they are not so strong tasted.
Fowl-feathers the Americans do not save, but scald their fowls to fetch them off. Geese and duck feathers are 50 cents per pound. We brought several beds with us, and we have purchased three since we have been here; they cost us 5l. 12s. 6d. each; it is, therefore, cheaper to buy them here than to bring them from England; but a person might, perhaps, have some time to wait before any could be procured, as, I believe, not ten beds have been offered for sale, in this settlement, since September last.
I have now given an account of all the {190} live stock, with the exception of dogs and cats; the latter we find very useful, having plenty of mice; and as to dogs we have a numerous collection of every size, sort, and colour, lap-dogs, I believe, only excepted; and as we have no dog-tax in this country, we much miss that useful thing.
The woods and prairies contain the following wild animals (but there are but few of those that are most dangerous);—viz. bears, wolves, panthers, wild-cats, foxes, opossums, racoons, ground-hogs, ground-squirrels, tree or common squirrels, deer, buffaloes, elks, beavers, otters, and rabbits. Bears and wolves are not numerous; but the latter, sometimes, kill pigs and sheep; a person at Birks' Prairie lately lost several sheep by the wolves. I have never heard of a wolf being killed, but I have frequently heard them howl of a night, and sometimes near us. Parties are frequently formed to hunt the bears, and some are often killed; yet I have never seen one, except that one in the Ohio. Their skins sell from one to two {191} dollars. Of panthers I have seen nothing, and heard but little; a noted hunter told me, he had followed hunting steadily (an American phrase) for twenty years, and had never seen one; but that others, who had hunted but little, had sometimes killed one. It is said to be a very fierce animal.
Wild cats are often destructive to young pigs; it is a bold animal, about twice the size of the common cat. Foxes are very scarce; I saw one near Robertson's Mill, it was much like an English fox. Racoons are numerous, and frequently destroy poultry; my sons have killed several; they are larger than a large cat; their skins, when good, sell for 25 cents each. Opossums are plentiful, and also destructive to poultry. They are easily taken, as they will not run away; but they are hard to kill, and often get away after they are left for dead.