NO. 22. 



THE FARMERS' CABINET- 



345 



would not be sufficiently near in their kin- 

 dred or blood as to deteriorate their ofispring 

 or stock. 



7. That though " the occasional intermix- 

 ture of different families" is believed "to be 

 necessary," it is not " by any means approved 

 of, to mi.v two distinct breeds, with the view 

 of uniting wholly the valuable properties of 

 both. This experiment has been frequently 

 tried, but has, it is believed, never succeedeol. 

 The first cross frequently produces a tolera- 

 ble animal, but it is a breed that cannot be 

 contmued. 



Thus, were it possible, " by a cross be- 

 tween the new Leicestershire and Merino 

 breeds of sheep, to produce an animal uniting 

 the excellencies of both, that i«, the carcass 

 of the one with the fleece of the other, even 

 such an animal so produced would be of little 

 i-aiue to the breeder; a race of the same de- 

 scription could not be perpetuated; and no 

 dependence could be placed upon the pro- 

 duce of such animals; they would be mon- 

 grels, some like ' the former,' and some like 

 * the latter,' and most of them with the faults 

 of both." 



In the intermixing of different families of 

 animals as crosses, much care and nice atten- 

 tion must be bestowed not to unite such as 

 cannot have the valuable qualities or proper- 

 ties which they may possess, or an improve- 

 ment of them perpetuated, and afterwards 

 certainly produced in their offspring. 



8. That a particular formation generally 

 indicates a disposition to get fat in all sorts 

 of animals; but this rule is not universal, for 

 \v« eometimes see animals of the most ap- 

 proved forms, who are slow feeders, and 

 whose flesh is of a bad quality, which the 

 graziers easily ascertain by the touch. The 

 disposition to get fat is more generally found 

 in some breeds than in others. The Scotch 

 ■highland cattle are remarkable for being al- 

 most all quick feeders, although many of 

 Ihem are defective in shape. The Welch 

 ca.ttle have but little disposition to get fat; 

 not from being particularly ill-shaped, but be- 

 cause they are almost invariably what the 

 graziers call had handlers.'''' 



Consequently, such animals as are well 

 shaped or approach nearest to the approved 

 form, and which have the most proper /ee< in 

 the flesh, should be employed in the raising 

 and improving of such stock. 



It cannot therefore be too strongly impress- 

 ed upon the attention of the breeder and im- 

 prover of different sorts of live stock, to be 

 iKiost particular in a just and suitably exact 

 selection; in putting animals together that 

 are not too closely related in their kindred, 

 snd in crossing the families and breeds of 

 different kinds in the most fit and correct 

 manner. 



WoriiiK on Fruit Trees. 



We find the following statement in the 

 Lansinburgh Gazette: 



Mr. Stephen Beach, who resides in Ferris- 

 burg, Addison county, Vt., tried the follow- 

 ing experiment with complete success: He 

 took a slip of Birch bark about the width of 

 three fingers, this he put around the trunk of 

 the tree, two or three feet from the ground, 

 and fastened the ends together, by moans of 

 a small nail driven into the tree. This bark 

 he besmeared with the skimmings of a pot 

 where salt pork, &c. had been boiled. The 

 worms as it is well known spin down from 

 the trees every night, and when they attempt 

 to ascend the tree, they are arrested by the 

 bark, or rather by the grease on it. They 

 approach this and can pass no further. They 

 gather in large quantities below this strip of 

 bark and remain for a sea.son and then dis- 

 perse ; some who attempt to cross the bark, 

 would be found stretched out at full length 

 and dead. It seems probable the grease and 

 salt together destroys them. By this simple 

 contrivance this gentleman succeeded to rid 

 his orchard of every worm in a very short 

 time. He informed me that one of his 

 neighbors applied grease, or rather oil, on the 

 tree itself; this he said prevented the worms 

 jfrom ascending, but it will nigh destroyed the 

 {trees. It is believed that when birch bark 

 cannot be obtained, that pasteboard would 

 .answer the same purpose. 



Agriculture. 



"How forcibly," exclaims the Niagara 

 Democrat, "how forcibly should the present 

 scarcity of all the productions of the earth, 

 tend to draw the attention of the owners or 

 cultivators of the soil to the necessity for ex- 

 ertion to introduce a system of more industri- 

 ovis and thorough husbandry. True the sea- 

 sons have been unpropitiou? — but the present 

 crisis in agricultural productions throughout 

 the country, is in a great degree to be attri- 

 buted to another cause — a neglect of agri- 

 culture. Our whole social system has been 

 diseased by the ail-absorbing business of 

 Speculation. It has drawn the mechanic 

 from his work shop, the professional man 

 from his duties, and enticed the tillers of the 

 soil to look for wealth in the inflated bubbles 

 of artificial value, and build their b-opesupon 

 the sandy foundations of imaginary sudden 

 gain, rather than by the patient but sure pro- 

 cess — the use of the plough. Among the 

 types that the disease has put on, was one 

 which created a species of contempt for ordi- 

 nary pursuits of industry. Those who have 

 been wrapt in a cloud of airy nothing, have 

 looked down upon plodding labor, as if it was 

 out of fashion, obsolete, and unnecessary. — 



