THE FARMER AT HOME 51 



few steps in reducing agriculture to a science, have been attended 

 with happier consequences. Such has been the result in England 

 and Scotland, that the average individual weight of the immense 

 numbers of cattle and sheep now annually slaughtered at Smithfield, 

 is nearly or quite one-half greater than it was at the time the first 

 efforts at improvement by breeding commenced. Of the many who 

 distinguished themselves in Great Britain, as breeders, Bakewell and 

 Collings, Culley and Berry, are noted for cattle, and Bakewell and 

 Ell man have distinguished themselves in the improvement of sheep. 



The principles of breeding are few and simple. Let the objects 

 desired in any particular race of animals be distinctly understood, and 

 the animals for breeding or crossing be selected with reference to these 

 objects. It should be remembered, that in determining the character 

 of the offspring, it is found by experience, that the influence of the 

 male is greater than that of the female. It is by the observance 

 of these, and a few other principles equally plain and simple, that 

 Bakewell and Collings raised the Durham short horns U, -o high 

 a standard ; that the first named gave to the Leicester sheep a ^ "n 

 and weight of which former sheep growers had never dreamed ; that 

 Ellman has brought the Southdown to within a few grades of the 

 Merino in fineness of wool ; and that the improved varieties of swine, 

 such as the Chinese, Berkshire, and others, have so far exceeded in 

 value and actual profit to the farmer, the common kinds of this ani- 

 mal. Great efforts are at this time making in this country, and with 

 decided success, to raise the standard of our domestic animals, by 

 importations from abroad, and careful breeding at home. The results 

 are such as to encourage the belief, that in a few years first rate 

 animals of all kinds will be as common here as they have hitherto 

 and most unfortunately been rare. 



BREWING. The art of brewing, or of preparing a vinous fer- 

 mented liquor from the farinaceous seeds, is of high antiquity. The 

 ancient Egyptians, from the soil and climate of their country not 

 being favorable to the culture of the vine, were induced to seek a sub- 

 stitute in barley, from which, in all probability, by the process of 

 malting, they knew how to procure a fermented liquor. The town of 

 Pelusium, situated on one of the mouths of the Nile, was particularly 

 celebrated for its manufactures of malt liquor, of which there were two 

 kinds ; one called Car?ni, was sweet, and appears to have resembled 

 our sweet and glutinous ales ; the other named Zithum, seems to 

 have been analagous to modern beer. The Germans, from the testi- 

 mony of Tacitus, were capable of preparing a liquor similar to wine 

 from barley, by fermentation. Julian, Strabo, and Polybius, show, 

 that the same art was known to the Spaniards, the Gauls, and the 

 inhabitants of the British islands, and the north of Europe. All the 

 ancient malt liquors, however, seem to have been made entirely of 

 barley, or some other farinaceous grain, and therefore were not gene- 



