No. 85.1 255 



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ALBANY AGRICULTURAL MEETINGS. 



Extracts from remarks made at the Agricultural meetings for dis- 

 cussion, held April 4 and 11, 1844. 



Dr. Lee opened the discussion with some remarks on wool-growing. 

 He thought it was practicable greatly to increase the weight of wool 

 per fleece, and at the same time to preserve its fineness of staple, 

 without incurring a corresponding increase in the expense of produc- 

 tion. This could be done by properly sheltering the sheep and feeding 

 them with food containing, in a large proportion, the elements of wool. 

 He had seen some Cotswold sheep at Mr. Coming's farm, which Mr. 

 Sotham told him would average 8 lbs. per fleece. He believed it was 

 practicable to get from the sheep of the country an average of 6 lbs. 

 per fleece. The extraordinary weight of wool which some sheep 

 produced, was owing to their wool-secreting organs having been 

 highly stimulated by particular care and feeding — they and tjieir pro- 

 genitors have been fed with a kind of food which is best calculated 

 to make wool. Beans contain a larger amount of the substance which 

 goes to make wool, than Indian corn — and hence they are a more ap- 

 propriate food for the production of wool. On the other hand, In- 

 dian corn contains more of the elements of fat, than beans, and it is 

 therefore a better food for fattening animals. 



Dr. L. thought that by proper management and feeding, the most 

 ill-formed animals might, in a few generations, be transformed into 

 valuable and useful ones. For example, take the woods-hog of the 

 western country. He now has a hide as thick as a board, ears big 

 enough for a leather apron, and bones large beyond all proportion — 

 he is nearly all offal. Put him in a quiet pen or pasture, feed him 

 properly, and a change soon takes place. He is no longer under the 

 necessity of constantly running about to get his living — he is fed with 

 a different kind of food — the secretions are different — from the food 

 he now gets, he assimilates fat — thus after pursuing this course for a 

 time, you may make from this race of hogs, a fine improved Berkshire. 

 Dr. L. had no doubt of this — the Berkshires, and other improved 

 races of animals, were all produced in a similar way. 



Mr. Howard said, although he thought the remarks of Dr. Lee 

 generally correct, he did not know how far it was safe to follow one 

 or two ideas. He was willing to admit that change of habits and 

 change of food, would have an influence in changing to some extent 

 the characteristics of animals ; but whether so great a change could 

 be effected as to transform the uncouth western " Land shark^^ 

 which Dr. Lee had described, into an " improved Berkshire,'' was 

 to him a matter of doubt. The ideas of Dr. Lee on the tendency 

 of certain kinds of food to produce fat, wool, &c., had been pro- 

 minently put forth by certain chemists. Mr. Howard said if he 

 understood the theory, it was that animals accumulate fatin pro- 

 portion as the food given to them contains oil, or the elements 

 of fat. They had recommended maize or Indian corn as peculiarly 

 adapted to the fattening of animals, on account of its being rich in 

 "those elements, and had recommended other substances as particularly 



