636 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



worthy of the consideration of all invesligaiing 

 minds. This bold, but ecieniific innovator, ex- 

 plodes the old aiistocralic noiion of,ihe qualities of 

 6/ood, and lays down some principles in breeding 

 as novel as they are instruciive. 



Does ii then admit oT a question, 1 would ask, 

 whether the American larnier shall avail himself 

 of the improvements made in England during the 

 last fil'ty years in live stock of almost every descrip- 

 tion, and of the lights which have governed her 

 people in reaching their present point of improve- 

 ment 1 1 should think not. Proud as we may be 

 of our own country, and of our own prowess, it 

 cannot discredit us to avail ourselves, whenever in 

 our power, of the labor, the improvements, and 

 the skill, i( you please, of others — even ilihey had 

 originated with a people, having less clainis upon 

 our respect than our ancestors have. 



The course a young farmer desiring to get a 

 good stock should pursue is to inquire first at home 

 into the character of his climate, the quality of 

 his soil, and the extent and quality of the suste- 

 nance which he will be able to supply — Then the 

 next inquiry should be into the properties and quali- 

 ties of the different varieties of improved stock, 

 and select such as are likely to suit him be>t, all 

 circumstances considered. Alter selecting he 

 should confine himself strictly to the object of his 

 choice. It is no way desirable that a beginner 

 shall import stock, or purchase here the highest 

 priced of pure blood — unless it be the blood horse, 

 then he cannot begin too high. 



It is a great mistake to suppose that animals of 

 the same breed and reared in the same manner 

 are better in England than they are in this coun- 

 try : the reverse, I verily believe, to be the case, 

 having all the choice varieties of England now in 

 the country. A man may buy in this country 

 the best of pure bloods, selected by his own eyes, 

 for less money than he will be required to pay lor 

 inlerior animals of the same race if he import 

 ihem I'rom Europe. No man can therefore import 

 stock advantageously or profitably from abroad, 

 unless he has been breeding the same race ol 

 animals at home lor many years, and requires a 

 new cross from a distant laniily ; and then his se- 

 lection should be well made from the flocks of the 

 best breeders, regardless of cost — such men only 

 ought to import, and such only can do it advan- 

 tageously and profitably to themselves. 



Our state I have belbre said is happily circum- 

 stanced nnd located as a breedinu state for every 

 variety of stock, not only (or our own, but for the 

 purposes aUo of other states, and not doubling 

 that the efforts so s icoeesfully already begun will 

 be continued, I must beg to be permitied ]o warn 

 the members of our society asainst mixing to- 

 gether in breeding tlie different varieties ol" the 

 same species of animals. 



Keep them entirely distinct, and bring in your 

 crosses from distant flimilies of ihe same race, and 

 do not give them even one cross of another breed 

 unless you have a definite object ; some specific 

 point of (orm or quality which you wish to correct 

 or improve, and then you must be sure that you 

 do not introduce at the same time another defec- 

 tive point, and pursue the object with undeviating 

 Bteadiness. If you do not upon trial like the race 

 you have adopted, change it and get another, but 

 do not jumble them up together, lor it is wholly 

 inconsistent with, and contrary to the true princi- 



ples of breeding ; and will not fail to land you in 

 the cheerless position of disappointment and dis- 

 gust. The first cross between different races will 

 sometimes give you fine animals lor the butcher, 

 and may prove some deficient point, but the next 

 admixture if you do not take care will leave you 

 wi'h nothing which you can call by any other 

 name than mere sheep or cattle. Like poor land 

 made rich without changing its constituent parts, 

 ever struggling to get back to poverty ; so live 

 stock bred Irom a jumble of ditfereni breeds are 

 perpetually inclined to breed back to their original 

 races, under deteriorating circumstances. Occa- 

 bionallyyou may get what naturalists term an 

 accidental variety, but when you do get an animal 

 of this description which you may desire to perpe- 

 tuate, the experiment is a dangerous one, and to 

 transmit its good qualities requires no ordinary de- 

 gree of judgment and intelligence, and also indo- 

 mitable perseverance. 



AN ESSAY ON THE IMPORTANCE OP LIME IN 

 SOILS.— NO. I. 



By Darius Lapham, Civil Engineer. 



From the Western Farmer and Gardener. 

 The farm on which my father resides, in 

 Champaign county, in this slate, lies in one of 

 those beautiful glades branching off' northwardly 

 from the main valley of King's creek, a large 

 tributary of Mad river. We came into possession 

 of a part of the present farm in 1830. Previous to 

 thai time, this part had been "cropped" for many 

 years with corn, wheat, &c., without any regard 

 10 a rotation of crops, or the addition of manure, 

 until the soil had become almost exhausted, or 

 worn out, by this constant drain upon its resources. 

 Since it has been in our possession it has been 

 divided into rectangular fields, of nearly equal 

 area, and the " lour crop" system of rotation has 

 been pursued in the cultivation throughout, until 

 each fiekl has had at least one crop of clover 

 ploughed into the soil, and several of them have 

 received two crops of clover. Very little stable 

 manure has been used ; but whatever else the 

 farm afforded, such as refuse straw, cornstalks, 

 weeds, &c., have been added to the soil as ma- 

 nure. Some lew experiments have been made 

 with gypsum, and also with leached ashes, but 

 tonogient extent — sufficient, however, to show 

 ihe benefit which clover derives from the appli- 

 cation ol' these substances. The experiment was 

 likewise made of the application of gypsum to 

 Indian corn, by putting a small quantity in each 

 hill at the time of planting, without producing 

 any sensible effiect on the corn ; — but two years 

 afterwards, when the same field had been laid 

 down in clover, the places where the gypsum 

 had been applied to the corn, became very 

 conspicuous by the greater luxuriance and in- 

 creased height of the clover at those places. 



Although by this system of management 

 there has been an evident improvement in the 

 fertility of the soil, on Ihis part of the farm, since 

 we have occupied it, still it cannot be called lertile, 

 as it will not raise good wheat, and corn crops 

 are below an average both in quantity and quality. 

 Oats and barley seem to do better than corn or 

 wheat ; but it is necessary that the soil should 



