vol.. XI. NO. 35. 



AND MOUTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



195 



From the American Farmer. 

 IMPROVEMENT OF SHEEP. 



Luchj Hit Farm, Aug. 25, 1832. 

 Mr. Smith : — Dear Sir, — Yours of the 17th inst. 

 has been very lately received. The ram you wish 



to procure for Col. , can be delivered in 



Alexandria, in the course of September. His 



price ^vill be equal to that charged Col. Freemai 

 a ye.ir or two since, §50, with the incidental ex- 

 penses of $5. 



My uniform price for a ram is $2-5, after the 

 first fleece is removed, when I consider him fairly 

 in a saleable state. Much may he inferred then, 

 as to the future turn out of the aninuil. Mucli 

 more when he shall have yielded his second 

 fleece — then $40 will be received. When the 

 third is shorn, .$50, at which period a ram will 

 have exhibited his excellences or his defects, whea 

 no breeder would think of selling animals with ma- 

 terial faults, since it would be too late to apologize 

 for them by the real or imaginary supposition, 

 they will outgrow it, or fill up in some particular 

 point, &c. &c. It will then be a matter of no lit- 

 tle importance to a purchasing breeder, who cau 

 make a proper distinction between a very good 

 animal and a very superior one, to obtain such as 

 will be as free from defects as possible, althoiigL 

 he pay a small additional price. I have said some- 

 where in the Farmer, that it is impossible for aOy 

 one to pronounce with certainty on the geng'al 

 qualities of an animal, merely from his youtlful 

 exhibition. I am confirmed by further cxperieice 

 in the truth of tlys assertion, particularly in rda- 

 tion to sheep. But if they have been uniforiily ^^ 

 disposed to keep in good order on moderate kea- j^ 

 ing, and continue to sustain their promised reputl- 

 tion by an exliibition of prominency in the mate\ 

 rial points, and do not degenerate in their wool, jjjatauce of thi^ 

 they may well be trusted at or about three years 

 old. I believe I may chiefly attribute my success 

 in sheep-breeding, to the circumstance of turning 

 out all my ram lambs, marking with my eye half 

 a dozen, more or less, of the most superior at the 

 first shearing when the best opportunity is aftbrded 

 of examining and comparing their wool — then un- 

 dergoing almost every day an examination and 

 comparison, until a second shearing tests more 

 fully their value in regard to wool, and afibrds a 

 further and more critical examination of the frame, 

 carriage, &c. &c. It sometimes happens, in the 

 course of the third year, that some one point 

 meets with a decline, (how or why, is more a mat- 

 ter of speculation than certainty. I believe, how- 

 ever, some of the learned may Investigate it with 

 philosophical precision, and decide on it with an 

 air of absolute truth ;) and on the contrary, that 

 where there has been a defect, time has so re- 

 modelled it, as to bring it into symmetry with the 

 rest. 



the same 



rior to any other, and his progeny do him increas- 

 ing credit, but this is not often the case. To in- 

 crease chances of improvement by crosses, I ocJ 

 casionally introduce some half-breed from ml 

 neighbors' flocks, gotten by rams loaned for tlii 

 special purpose of selecting a few to get a cros 

 or two from — then turning them away, and breoQ 

 ing in and in for a while, according to circun) 

 stances. 



I have thought it proper to say thus much foj 

 the convenience and benefit of purchasers an 

 breeders; and it may be well, whenever applica^ 

 tion is made, that the views of the breeder bi 



signified, not only in regard to a prepondcrancr in 

 favor of mutton or wool, liut any hints which 

 may be advantageously ajJidicd in respect to form 

 as a matter of taste will not be neglected — for in- 

 stance, there may he two animals of the same 

 real value, but diffi^ring in their appearance, the 

 one having a longer body, the other making up in 

 breadth for the deficiency iu length — but here an 

 advantage may be derived, added to taste ; if the 

 flock to be improved have .short bodies, use the 

 ram to give tlieju more length — if long, it follows 

 of consequence tliat bulk will be the most appro- 

 pri.ite cross. But I must stop, and you will per- 

 ceive, sir, how difficult it is for me to deal in mon- 

 osyllables only, whenever this subject is touched 

 from abroad ; long, and frequent reflections, on 

 its extensive importance, and the indulgence of a 

 vivid and happy imagination on its practical ben- 

 efits, and the enchanting scenery of beautifully 

 white flocks spread over the deep green fields, 

 I trust will be accepted as an apology for detain- 

 ing you so long on the simple question, " will 

 you furnish me with a first rate ram ?" and also 

 for the request to give this note a corner in the 

 Farmer. I am, very respectfully, yours, &c. 

 R. K. MEADE. 



but nion^ iiarlieularly 

 been culled the poor 



From Buc/c's Beauties of Nature. 

 VEGETABLE INSTINCT. 



Instinct is a particular disposition or tendency 

 in a living being to embrace, without deliberation 

 or reflection, the means of self-preservation, and 

 to perform, on particular occasions, such other 

 actions as are required by its economy, without 

 aviug any perception to what end or purposes it 

 acts, or any idea of the utility and advantage of its 

 own operation. Climbing plants aftbrd a curious 

 instinctive economy. Some of 

 \hese having very slender stems, cannot, like most 

 Ulier plants, grow of themselves in a perpendicular 

 drection ; but in order to compensate for this in- 

 opacity, nature has given them the power of 

 npving or twining their branches and tendrils dif- 

 fffent ways, until they generally meet with a tree 

 Msome other body on which to climb, or attach 

 Jpmselves ; and when a tendril has laid hold of a 

 (ilpport, it coils up and draws the stem after it.* 

 11 Trees and other vegetables have likewise the 

 Bwer of directing their roots for procuring nour- 

 i nnent : — for instance, a tree growing near a 

 (tch, will be found to direct its roots straight 

 (iwnwards, on the side next the ditch, untd they 

 1 ach the ground below it, when they will throw 

 I F fibres underneath, and ramify like the root on 

 le other side of the tree. Some curious exam- 

 ies of this kind of instinct are related by Lord 

 Ivaimes, among which is the following : — " A 



(irvcn.si.t, and many other 

 in the last, whence it ha; 

 man's weather-glass. 



In Watson's Chemical Essays, also, it it stated 

 that trefoil, wood-sorrel, mountain ebonv the Af- 

 rican marigold, and many others, are so regular 

 in folding up their leaves before rainy weather 

 that these motions have been considered as a kind' 

 of instinct similar to that of ants. — Ttippcr o7i the 

 Probalilit}/ of Sensation in Vegetables. 



Some plants open their petals to receive rain, 

 others avoid it ; some contract at the approach of 



.storm, others at the approach of night ; while 

 some expand and blossom only to the evenin-' air. 



Near the Cape, certain flowers form a species ol' 

 chronometer. The morea unguiculata and ■undula- 

 ta open at nine in the morning, and close at four- 

 the ixia cinnamonea opens at the time the other 

 closes, and .sheds a delicious perfume thro 

 the night. 



ough 



T , , ,■ , y. quantity of fine compost for flowers happened to 



1 breed sometimes two or three years from p , ■ , . ., ,. ',. /■ n , . 



, ,•,.,,, /be laid at Uie loot oi a lull-grown elm, where it 



ne ram, or as long as he is decidedly supe- ,„ i . j .. r , 



lay neglected three or four years ; when moved, 

 in order to be carried off", a net work of ehii fibres 

 spread through the whole heap ; and no fibres 

 had before appeared at the surface of the ground." 

 Many flowers also fold up their leaves on the 

 approach of rain, or in cold cloudy weather, and 

 unlbid them again when cheered by the reanimat- 

 ing influence of the sun. This is remarkably 

 exemplified in the convolvulus arvensis, anagallis 



• A mistake. The tendril does not " draw the stem after 

 it". — it merely supports it. The stem increases in length only 

 from the growih at liic end. The limb of a tree and the tendril 

 of a vine are always at the same distance from the ground. — 

 Ed. Am. Farmer. 



The stamina of the flowers of sorrel thorn are 

 so peculiarly irritable, that when touched they 

 will incline almost two inches ; and the upper 

 joint of the leaf of the dioncea is formed like a ma- 

 chine to catch food. When an insect, therefore, 

 settles on its glands, the tender parts become irri- 

 tated, and the two lobes rise up, grasp the insect 

 and crush it to death. The plane-tree exhibits the 

 power of exercising a sagacity for securing food 

 not unworthy of an animal. Lord Kaimes relates, 

 that among the ruins of New Abbey, in the coun- 

 ty of Galloway, there grew in his tmie, on the top 

 of one of its walls, a plane-tree, upwards of 

 twenty feet in height. Thus situated, it became 

 straitened for food and moisture, and therefore 

 gradually directed its roots down the side of the 

 wall, till they reached the ground at the distance 

 often feet. When they had succeeded in this at- 

 tempt, the upper roots no longer shot out fibres, 

 but united in one ; and shoots vigorously sprun'r 

 up from the root which had succeeded in reach- 

 ing the farth. 



The island of St. Lucia presents a still more 

 curious phenomenon in the animal flower. This 

 organizition lives in a large bason, the water of 

 which is brackish. It is more brilliant than the 

 raarigoll wliich it resembles. But when the hand 

 is extenled towards it, it recoils, and retires like 

 a snail in the water. It is supposed to live on the 

 spawn )f fish. 



In Jiva grows a plant, the JVepenthes distillato- 

 ria, reiiarkahle for having a small vegetable bag 

 attached to the base of its leaves. This bag is 

 eovei-id with a lid which moves on a strong fibre 

 answiring the purpose of a hinge. When dews 

 rise, »r rams descend, the lid opens ; when the 

 bag ii saturated, the lid falls and closes so tightly, 

 that 10 evajioration can take place. The moisture' 

 thus imbibed, cherishes the seed, and is gradually 

 absobed into the body of the plant. 



AGE OP IMPROVEMENT. 



Mr. F. Palmer, of Buft'alo, N. Y., has invented 

 a ne.v method of making nails for shoeing horses 

 and oxen, for which he h.is obtained a patent. 

 It is an invention which promises to be of great 

 value to the community and to the inventor, who 

 is at present the principal proprietor. Some idea 

 may lie formed of its importance, from the fact 

 that one man can manufacture nails, in this way, 

 at least as fast as fifty men can in the usual way. 

 The nails have been proved to be equally as good 

 in quality, and far superior in point of form. 



