NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



335 



is to her a source of greater honor than all the vic- 

 tories and conquests of the latter, since the days of 

 her feudal regime. The establishment of the High- 

 land Society wrought wonders ; and since then she 

 has progressed rapidly, her course being ever onward, 

 till her system is now the most perfect of any, and 

 the efforts of her farmers, in every department of 

 Geoponics, more successful, circumstances consid- 

 ered, than those of any peoi^le on the face of the 

 globe. 



Here, in tliis free country, where millions on mil- 

 lions of virgin soil are to be had for a mere nominal 

 equivalent; where the market is always open to the 

 products of industry, and where, from our rapidly 

 increasing population, every article produced from 

 the soil by farm labor is certain to bruig a remuner- 

 ating price ; and where from these, and other cog- 

 nate and collateral causes, the young agriculturLst is 

 supplied with the most cheering inducements to per- 

 severe in the bright pathway of improvement, — ag- 

 riculture, both as a science and as an art, makes but 

 a dilatory advance. It languishes from lack of pub- 

 lic spirit — that esprit i/ii corps which is so operative 

 in the mind of the Scotch farmer, and which leads 

 him to dread nothing more than the disgrace of being 

 beaten or excelled. When shall we arise ? when shall 

 we assume that rank among the nations we so emi- 

 nently deserve r AN OLD FAHMER. 

 — Gcrmantown Telejraph. 



REASONS FOR KEEPING THE BEST 

 BREEDS OF STOCK. 



Many reasons might be urged why farmers should 

 keep only the best breeds of stock. While it is true 

 that an abundance of food AviU apparently improve 

 any breed, or at least hide their deformities, it is also 

 true that the same food, fed to the same varieties of 

 animals, though of different breeds, will contribute 

 both to the beauty of the animal and interest of the 

 owner. 



Early maturity, and a disposition to take on fat, 

 are intimately connected with the shape of the ani- 

 mal. I'ut few persons have the perseverance and 

 discrimination to make a Bakewell; yet scarcely a 

 man can be found, who, if called upon to decide be- 

 tween two animals of different organization, but will 

 instinctively decide in favor of the round- barrelled, 

 small- boned, dcop-chcsted, in preference to the slab- 

 sided, coarse-haired, rough-boned, narrow-chested 

 animals ; and yet, with our certain knowledge of these 

 facts, how few are there amongst us who make a 

 reasonable application of the knowledge they pos- 

 sess ! And if any one is found possessing a spirit of 

 improvement, how often is it the ease that he is beset 

 with obstacles, and his efforts counteracted on every 

 side ! At all times, through the summer, may be seen 

 herds of cattle, hogs, &c., rambling in every direc- 

 tion, turned out by their owners to curse community, 

 in their daily task of highway robbery and usurpa- 

 tion. 



Suppose one of our citizens, at great cost, intro- 

 duces a superior Durham bull. If he is permitted 

 to pasture in fields adjoining the highway, to iirovent 

 evil associations is impossible ; fences will be broken 

 down; he is led off by these marauders, and how- 

 ever docile by constitution he may be, these evil as- 

 sociations will soon make him ungovernable. Tlie 

 owner is soon compelled to fit him for the shambles. 

 In the Empire State, the case supposed may not 

 apply, but in Ohio, this is no fancy sketch ; and not- 

 withstanding the public may be benefited by the in- 

 troduction of the bull, in stamjnng his character or 

 good points in liis offspring, in the stock of the 

 neighborhood, the owner's chagrin, disappointment, 



and loss of money have been the result. But how 

 can this be remedied ? I answer, by disseminating 

 the right kind of knowledge among the people. If 

 every farmer could be induced to become a sub- 

 scriber and a reader of the American Agriculturist, 

 the American Farmer, the Plough, Loom, and Anvil, 

 the Ohio Cultivator, or any one of these, how soon 

 would the aspect of these things be changed ! The 

 slumbering faculties would be aroused, a spirit of 

 emulation in husbandry in general, and an improve- 

 ment in breeds of farm stock in particular, would 

 pave the waj' for the passage of a law prohibiting 

 animals from running at large. And then, how 

 quickly would our fields be dotted over with beau- 

 tiful square-formed Durham cows ! How soon would 

 our long-nosed, razor-backed, slab-sided, alligator 

 land-pikes, which some people call "hogs," give 

 place to the Chinese, or some other decent breed of 

 swine ! 



The evils resulting to the community from bad 

 breeds of hogs extend much further than is gen- 

 erally supposed. Almost every person, at one time 

 or another, has had ocular demonstration of the 

 hard feelings, heart tearings, open quarrels, and ex- 

 pensive lawsuits, engendered by the instrumentaUty 

 of these trespassers, which husk our corn and dig 

 our potatoes for nothing, and, like the prince ol 

 darkness, are always " roaming about, seeking what 

 they may devour." But these evils, great as they 

 may be, are not to be compared to the deleterious 

 effects they have upon mankind. Man is a physio- 

 logical being, and his physiological existence de- 

 pends upon certain important principles or laws. 

 Every one knows that man is an eating being. Did 

 ho cease to eat, he would soon cease to live. The 

 food eaten is received into the stomach ; this, in the 

 process of digestion, is formed into chyle, and this, 

 by the action of the oxygen of the atmosphere, in- 

 haled by the lungs, is formed into blood ; and from 

 this blood are formed the bones, the sinews, the 

 muscles, and tendons of the human frame. Conse- 

 quently, whatever is eaten by man, and not thrown 

 off as extraneous matter, becomes assimilated into 

 the system, and becomes interwoven into the very 

 texture and existence of man himself. Is it not, 

 therefore, as clear as demonstration can make it, that 

 if a man were fed exclusively, for a sufficient length 

 of time, on long-nosed alligators, or land-pikes, he 

 would eventually, as far as animal physiology is con- 

 cerned, become " bone of their bone, and liesh of 

 tlieir flesh " • He would be all hog except the 

 bristles. And when we consider the very intimate 

 connection between mind and matter, is it not 

 equally clear that this animal system, composed, in 

 whole or in part, of swine, will have a powerful in- 

 fiuence in the formation of the character of the manr 

 that the animal propensities will become stimulated, 

 and will usurp the throne ■ And when reason is thus 

 subjugated, the man is transformed, from being a 

 good nu^mber of civil sux^iety, to a complete Ishniael- 

 ito, whose hand will be against every man, and every 

 man's hand against him. I desire no better index to 

 the general character of a neighbor for benevolence, 

 l)cace, love, and good will, or their opposites, than 

 the breed and appearance of the hogs reared and 

 eaten by the j)e<:>ple who reside there. And were I 

 seeking a location, I would select some green spot in 

 the desert of Sahara, rather than settle down among 

 a people whose exclusive food was alligators or land- 

 pikes, o. 

 — American AijricuUurist. 



For the ycaa- ending in April last, nearly one hun- 

 dred and twenty millions of pounds of beet-root 

 suyar were manufactured in France. 



