ON BREEDING AND REARING ANIMALS. 33 



66 seed of the kind of grain they cultivate, butA 

 " to procure males from the flocks and herds 

 " of those who have the same, or similar withS 

 " their own. It has been remarked that those 

 " farmers have in general the worst flocks, who 

 " bred from rams produced on their own farms, 

 " and that an interchange of males is mutually 

 " beneficial." 



These observations, like many others of Sir 

 John- Sinclair, are calculated more to mislead, 

 than_Jto inform, the ignorant agriculturist, for 

 instead of grounding his judgment and prac- 

 tice, on the established principles of science, he 

 is here recommended to rely on _ blind j^ance, 

 or the casual observation and imitation of others. 



By crossing different varieties of vegetables, 



no doubt, other varieties may be obtained, and, A" 

 perhaps, such as possess more valuable qualities / 

 than the parent plants ; but with vegetables as ( 

 with animals, food and climate, possess the / 

 greatest influence, in varying their qualities; thus\ 

 the seeds of plants, transplanted from a sterile 

 soil and uncongenial climate, to a luxuriant soil( 

 and congenial climate, will increase in the luxu- \ 

 riance of their produce, with every generation, / 

 until they have reached the bounds prescribed j 

 by nature, and vice versa. 



Sir Humphry Davy very justly observes, 

 D 



