1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



259 



source of improvements in the breed of cart 

 horses. 



The form of swine has also been greatly im- 

 proved by crossing with the small Chinese boar. 



Examples of the bad effects of Crossing the 

 Breed. 



When it became the fashion in London to i\nvci 

 Jarge bay horses, the farmers in Yorkshire put 

 their mares to much larger stallions than usual, 

 and thus did infinite mischief to their breed by 

 producing a race of small chcstetl, long legged, 

 large headed, worthless animals. 



A similar project was adopted in Normandy to 

 enlarge the breed of horses there, b}' the use of 

 staLimis from flolstein; and in consequence, the 

 best breed of horses in France would have been 

 spoiled had not the farmers discovered their mis- 

 take in time, by observing the offspring much 

 inferior in form to that of the native stallions. 



Some graziers in the Isle of Shepley conceived 

 that they could improve their sheep by large Lin- 

 colnshire rams, the produce of which was howe- 

 ver much inferior in the shape of the carcase, and 

 the quality of the wool, and their flocks were 

 greatly injured by this attempt to improve them. 



Attempts to improve the native animals of a 

 countrj-, and by any plan of crossing should be 

 made with the greatest caution; for by a mistaken 

 practice extensively pursued, irreparable mischief 

 may be done. 



In any country where a particular race of ani- 

 mals has continued for centuries, it may be pre- 

 sumed that their constitution is adapted to the food 

 and climate. 



The pliancy of the animal economj^ is such, as 

 that an animal will gradually accommodate itself 

 to very great vicissitudes in climate and altera- 

 tions in food, and by degrees undergo great changes 

 in constitution; but these changes can be effected 

 only by degrees, and may oficn require a gi-eat 

 number of successive generations for their accom- 

 plishment- 

 It may be proper to improve the form of a na- 

 tive race, but at tlie same time it may be a very in- 

 judicious attempt to enlarge the size. 



The size of animals is commonly adapted to 

 the soil which they inhabit. Where produce is 

 nutritive and abundant, the animals are large, 

 having grown proportionally to the quantity of 

 food which for generations they have been accus- 

 tomed to obtain. W here the produce is scanty the 

 animals are small, being proportioned to the quantity 

 of food which they are able to procure — of these 

 contrasts the sheep of Lincolnshire, and of Wales, 

 are examples. The sheep of Lincolnshire would 

 starve on the mountains of Wales. 



Crossing the breed of animals may be attended 

 with bad effects in various ways and that even 

 when adopted in the beginning on a good princi- 

 ple; for instance, suppose some larger ewes, than 

 those of the native breed were taken to the moun- 

 tains of Wales and put to the rams of that coun- 

 try — if these foreign ewes were fed in proportion 

 to their size, their lambs would be of an improved 

 form, and larger in size than the native animals; 

 but the males produced by this cross though of 

 a good form would be disproportionate in size to 

 the native ewes, and therefore, if permitted to mix 

 with them^ would be productive of a starveling 



informed progeny. Thus a cross which was at 

 first an improvement would by giving occasion to 

 a contrary cross ultimately prejudice the breed. 



The general mistake in crossing has arisen from 

 an attempt to increase the size of a native race of 

 animals, being a fruitless effort to counteract the 

 laws of nature. 



The Arabian horses are in general the most 

 perfect in the world; which probably has arisen 

 Ir-om great care in selection and also from being 

 unmixed with any variety of the same species; the 

 males there(()re have never been dieproportioned 

 to the size of the females. 



The native horses of India are small, but well 

 proportioned, and good of their kind. With the 

 intention of increasing their size, the India com- 

 pany have adopted a plan of sending large stal- 

 lions to India. If these stallions should be exten- 

 sively used, a disproportioned race must be the re- 

 sult, and a valuable breed of horses may be irre- 

 trievably spoiled. 



From theory, from practice, and from extensive 

 observation, which is more to be depended on than 

 either, it is reasonable to form this 



Condusion. 



It is wrong to enlarge a native breed of animals; 

 for in proportion to their increase of size they be- 

 come worse in form, less hardy, and more liable to 

 disease. 



From t!ie Silkworm. 

 SILK CULTURE PUOPOSED AT CAPE FLORIDA. 



Cape Florida Light-House, jjpril, 15, 1836. 



Sir, — I have lately seen a publication entitled 

 the Silkworm, published under your direction; and 

 supposing you interested in the successful cultiva- 

 tion of the article to which it is directed, I take 

 the liberty, although a stranger, to address you a 

 few lines — not for tfie purpose of furnishing you 

 with any additional information on the subject — 

 but merely, through your paper, to call the atten- 

 tion of the public (or that portion of it who feel 

 an interest in the manuflicture of Silk) to Cape 

 Florida, as a part of our country best calculated 

 lor the production of this article. I have, for the 

 last eleven yeais, resided at this establishment, as 

 keeper of the light-house and revenue or custom- 

 house ofncer for this collection district. I have it 

 therefore in my power to speak correctly, as to the 

 climate, the lands in the neighborhood, and their 

 fitness for the propagation of the silkworm, the 

 rearing of the Mulberry trees, and the manufac- 

 ture of silk. 



IVIy present residence is on an island, near Cape 

 Florida, distant six miles fi'om the main. The 

 soil is altogether sand and gravel, on which no 

 vegetable can be raised.* My family, amount- 

 ing to near twenty, have for the last eleven vears 

 been altogether strangers to fevers, or disease of 

 any kind; indeed, I may with truth assure you that 

 there is no spot in America, where a settler can 

 with more certainty calculate on the enjoyment of 

 uninterrupted health, than at this place, and the 



* The next paragraph shows that the writer meam 

 the smaller veg'^tabK-s, and not trees. — Ed. Far Reo. 



