No. 12. Stock Breeding. — Green Crops for Turning Down. 



379 



in a condition serviceable as manure. In 

 close stables, the horses' health would be 

 better preserved, and they would not be so 

 liable to get blind as now : \% lbs. of sul- 

 phate of lime will fix as much ammonia as 

 is produced by 100 lbs. of horses' urine. 1 

 am, sir, your obedient servant, 



Gregory Brabyn. 



Wanebride, Nov. J4, 



London Farmers' Magazine. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 On Stock Breeding. 



Sir, — I once owned a favourite mare, from 

 which I had a great desire to obtain a colt, 

 as I considered her peculiarly adapted to the 

 purpose of rearing that most valuable of all 

 stock, the roadster, or horse of all work. 

 After repeated trials, which had uniformly 

 failed, a friend suggested a cross with the 

 jack, which he had known to be attended 

 ■ with success in such cases, and by this 

 means I did indeed obtain a fine mule, but 

 from the use of the best horses in the coun- 

 try, I was ever after presented with the most 

 mulish brutes ever beheld — they might pro- 

 perly be denominated a cross between the 

 mule and the mare, they were so degenerated 

 both in appearance and disposition. 



This is a most curious and interesting sub- 

 ject for consideration ; v;e are every day 

 witnessing the correctness of Jacob's Theory, 

 concerning the peeled rods; and although 

 shocked with the injustice of his conduct, 

 even at this day we are constrained to admit 

 that there is "something in it," as folks say. 

 And to this cause is, I have no doubt, to be 

 attributed the number of white calves from 

 coloured parents, and other wonderful and 

 very curious phenomena which we witness 

 daily, all tending to show the strength and 

 power of sympathy, and the truth of the 

 position assumed, that "a mare having once 

 brought a mule, will ever after produce a 

 mulish progeny." 



The earl of Morton's fine Arabian mare 

 was crossed with the quagga — a kind of 

 zebra — the offspring partook strongly of the 

 character of the sire, and when the mare 

 was afterwards put to the pure-bred Arabian, 

 her two next foals continued to exhibit the 

 distinctive features of the quagga in a very 

 considerable degree. And other remarkable 

 instances are recorded in Youat's work on 

 Cattle — a Mr. Mustard, says, "one of his 

 cows chanced to come into season while pas- 

 turing on a field, which was bounded by that 

 of one of his neighbours, out of which field 

 an ox jumped and went with the cow until 

 she was brought home to the bull — the ox 

 was white, with black spots and horned. 

 Mr. Mustard had not a horned beast in his 



possession, nor one with any white about it, 

 nevertheless, the produce was a black and 

 white calf, with horns' Another instance 

 still more remarkable is, a dairy cow of the 

 Ayrshire breed, in colour red and white, was 

 allowed to pasture with the pure-bred Keillor 

 stock, which were perfectly black and horn- 

 less; in the first experiment, from pure black 

 bulls and cows, there appeared three red and 

 white calves, and on the second trial two of 

 the calves were of mixed colours', but since 

 that time, care has been taken to have all 

 the animals upon the farm, down to the pigs 

 and poultry, of a black colour." I under- 

 stand that Mr. Govven's famous cow Dairy- 

 maid, has a white calf the present year, by 

 the Prince of Wales — both roans — but the 

 last year, Dairy-maid was put to Colostra, 

 who was white, when she brought a white 

 calf, and it is probable that her next year's 

 calf will be white also, unless a bull of a 

 more decided colour is used. 



J. R. C. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Green Crops for Turning Down. 



Mr. Editor, — We hear much of sowing 

 crops for the purpose of ploughing them down 

 while green. Did it ever occur to the minds 

 of our farmers how many and what heavy 

 " green crops" may be cut from their rushy 

 bottoms, their ditches, their woods ; but above 

 all, from the margins of their rivers and 

 creeks ; and which, if buried in the bottom 

 of their furrows, would ferment and become 

 as valuable manure as any that could be 

 grown for the purpose at the expense of 

 ploughing and sowing, and which would en- 

 able them to mow these for their cattle, and 

 thus obtain from them an addition to their 

 cattle keep, instead of robbing them of so 

 many acres of fodder] There is upon record 

 an account of an experiment on growing po- 

 tatoes, where it was found that a single cab- 

 bage-leaf laid on every set of the potatoes 

 while planting, produced as large a crop as 

 was taken from the rows dressed with stable 

 manure. Then what would be the result of 

 a thick covering of water-lilies, reeds, or the 

 rushes and weeds from our boggy bottoms? 

 I am at present a slave in a dry-goods store 

 in Market street, but shall be free in the 

 spring, when I will ascertain if agriculture 

 will not pay for capital expended, as well as 

 trade. J, D. 



Philad., June 20, 1841. 



Be indefatigable in your honest pursuits — 

 you will always obtain a. part of what you 

 seek ; and the first success, however faint, 

 will give you courage in your farther e.%rts. 



