10 



PRACTICAL FARMER, 



Keep no more stock than you can keep in good 

 order, and that of the best kind. 



Never run into debt without a reasonable prob- 

 ability of solving it at the time agreed. 



Never carry your notes in your pocket-book, as 

 the desk or trunk is a more appropriate place. 



Keep them on file and in order, ready to be 

 found when wanted. 



Never buy anything at an auction because the 

 article is going cheap, unless you have a use for it. 



Keep a place for your tools — and your tools in 

 order. 



Should you be fond of the chase, or the sport 

 with the hook, indulge occasionally, but never to 

 the injury of more important conces-ns. 



By driving your business before you, and not 

 permitting your business to drive you, you will 

 iiave opportunities to indulge in innocent diver- 

 sions. 



iFrom the New England Farmer.] 



IMPORTANT FACTS TO BE OBSERVED IN 

 REARING STOCK. 



Mr Editor — I have never seen in your work 

 an account of M. Giron's experiments, which 

 have brought forward some new and highly im- 

 portant laws, that regulate the form and sex of 

 animals. A brief notice of them will be useful 

 to all who are interested in improving stock. 



M. Giron de Busareingues is an agriculturist in 

 the south of France. His work contains two 

 separate propositions, supported by experiments 

 most numerous and satisfactory. The first is — 

 that in animals of mature age and perfect devel- 

 opement, the influence of the sexes on the exter- 

 nal form crosses in generation, the male being more 

 like the dam, and the female progeny more like 

 the sire. The second is — that in regard to sex 

 itself, the influence is direct, the sex of the prog- 

 eny corresponding with thai of the parent which 

 had the strongest constitution, and was in sound- 

 est health at the time of union. 



The first of these propositions is deduced from 

 an observation of a vast number of cases which 

 cannot be detailed in this brief notice. After re- 

 marking then that they are sufficiently strong to 

 convince every one of the correctness of the in- 

 ference, I will proceed to state a few flicts by Avhich 

 his second proposition is supported by M. Giron. 



His first remark was, that, in his flocks and 

 sludg, those females who were at the most vigo- 

 rous age, generally produced females whether 

 united to strong or weak subjects : whilst those 

 females that had either not attained, or had passed 

 the prime of life, produced males when united to 

 ])rime subjects, and females, when united to very 

 old males. To ascertain whether this discovery 

 corresponded with general observation among 

 practical farmers, M G. made inquiries of the 



neighboring agriculturists, who informed him that 

 they had constantly remarked that when the male 

 was young, and the female vigorous, the product 

 of their union was female ; while the contrary 

 had as uniformly happened when the conditions 

 were reversed. 



In order to test this matter still further, M. G. 

 announced, in 1825, to the agricultural meeting of 

 Severac, that a part of his flock, already marked, 

 would give him, at the next agnelage, more females 

 than males. The society nominated two com- 

 missioners to ascertain the fact, and it turned out 

 that the proportion of males to females was 1000 

 to 1472. 



At a subsequent meeting M. G. offered to effect 

 the production of a majority of males or females 

 in a given flock, at the choice of the society. 

 Two flocks were immediately furnished by mem- 

 bers of the society. 



The first Jlock was divided into two equal parts 

 without i-eference to age or constitution. The 

 first part being supplied with very young rams 

 gave a product of 30 males to 76 females; the 

 second part being supplied with strong and vigo- 

 rous rams 4 or 5 j^ears old, gave a product of 65 

 males to 31 females. 



The second fiock was also divided inta two sec- 

 tions, but with more regard to the other conditions 

 referred to. The first section composed of strong 

 sheep 4 or 5 years old, was sent into rich pastur- 

 age and visited by yearling rams ; it produced 15 

 males and 25 females. The second sections, 

 composed of feeble sheep under 4 and over 5 

 years of age, was placed in dry pasturage, and re- 

 ceived two strong rams over 3 years old ; the re- 

 sult was 26 males and 14 females. In both ex- 

 periments it was observed that the lambs produ- 

 ced by the young rams were equal in appearance 

 to those produced by the most vigorous. 



The experiments were continued on other 

 classes of animals, birds and insects, with the 

 same results. In the poultry yai-d, e. g. where the 

 preponderance of maturity and vigor was on the 

 part of the hen, there resulted 725 males and 1000 

 females: and where the male parent was most 

 vigorous and of ripest age, there resulted 1415 

 males and 1000 females. Among horses his ex- 

 periments were particularly clear and conclusive. 



It happened to be most profitable to M. G. to 

 have more females than males. With a view to 

 this effect he took care, in the year 1824, to fur- 

 nish his mares good pasturage, and to give none 

 to foal who had suckled the same year or 

 borne the year previous. " Elles ne furent pre- 

 sentees a I'etalon qu'apres qu'elles eurcnt donue 

 des signes de chaleur." Five mares, thus pre- 

 pared, produced five females ; and of fifteen foals 

 procured from 1824 to 1827 there were 13 fe- 

 males and two males. In accordance witli the 



