38 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



pigs ; and, in guaranteeing my Essex pigs, he guaranteed that 

 they should be totally black. They were not. There was 

 the evidence that somewhere or other something else had 

 crept in. 



Mr. Hadwen. Were there pigs of any other color on 

 your premises ? 



Mr. "Whitaker. There might have been among some of 

 the others, but not with this pair. I had the satisfaction of 

 knowing, also, that, as long as I kept that boar and sow, they 

 always produced one black-and-white pig in a litter ; never 

 more, but always one. 



Now, I just make this applicable to Mr. Moore's suggestion. 

 Mr. Moore selects a quantity of seed raised in the manner he 

 has described ; and I buy it from him, and he can pretty near 

 guarantee what that seed will be. I go to Mr. Comins and 

 buy some of his seed ; but he cannot guarantee what that 

 seed will be. I have never raised much corn ; but I have 

 raised on wo bits of land sweet-corn and field-corn, with 

 two or three acres between the two. In my sweet-corn I 

 had field-corn dotted through the ears, and in my field-corn 

 I had sweet-corn dotted through the ears. Then I took the 

 sweet-corn that came out of the field-corn, and planted that, 

 and I got a large portion of field-corn in the ears : there 

 would be some sweet-corn sprinkled among it. On the other 

 hand, I planted the field-corn, and got sweet-corn. Now, I 

 could not say, if I turned that over to anybody, " Here is 

 some sweet-corn that will surely produce sweet-corn." 



Now, we say that "like always produces like." Well, if 

 it did, there would be a poor chance for me and brother 

 Moore. But there is another law, and that is the law of 

 variation. It is from the law of variation that all improve- 

 ment or deterioration commences. I have always said, in 

 speaking to men, " God has placed it in your power to make 

 vourselves either better or worse. The law of variation 

 applies to you and to your moral condition just the same as 

 it applies to the physical condition of the animal." Now, we 

 have that variation in our power in the cultivation of plants. 

 Mr. Moore, when he passed down between his rows of corn, 

 would select his best ears, and his corn would begin to im- 

 prove. Another man would take his at random, and his corn 

 would begin to deteriorate. One man whom I knew was 



