THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



VOL. I. 



mn^mm^Ti^T, Qmi^w^mmmm h^qq, 



NO. 4. 



EUirUIfD RUFFIK, EDITOR A3VD PROPRIETOR. — T. AV. WHITE, PRINT^.R. 



0>- THE IXri.UEXCE OF PAREXTAGE OX OFF- 

 SPRIXG, IX BREEDIXG AXI3IALS. 



To the Editor of tlic Farmers' Register. 



The prejudice against speculation may be car- 

 ried too far in matters which ]iar\-e not uttained to 

 perfection. No subject affords a wider scope for 

 investigation, than those to a\ liich tlie Register is 

 devoted. Among us, agriculture is ccr'ainly in 

 its infancy, and its zealous friends are left to inquire 

 nliether we liad better entirely depend for ijifor- 

 mation on, writers in foreign lands, where soil, cli- 

 mate, political institutions, and popular habits are 

 so different from ours — or occasionally make some 

 efforts to grope our own way tliroughthe mysterv 

 that surrounds us. I ntil we begin to interchange 

 opinions wfth each other, it is not likely that our 

 interest in the subject Avill become very deep.= — 

 And although we smile occasionally at each other's 

 notions, yet I feel assured it will be the smile 

 of good nature, and that any original article that 

 may appear in the Register, written with a sincere 

 desire to search after truth, will be received with 

 pleasure by its readers. Indeed, sir, I feel so cer- 

 tain that this apology is unnecessary, that 1 would 

 not make it, were I not assured that many much 

 better qualilied are deteri'ed from writing by these 



good natured smiles. My excellent neighbor , 



could furnish you with an article on the culture 

 and management of tobacco, or on many otlier sub- 

 jects, which you would gladly receive, were he not 

 afraid of finding by the succeeding number of your 

 work, that some person had been greatly amused 

 by it.* 



In your second number, I read with much plea- 

 sure, some sensible remarks extracted from the 

 New England Farmer, on the sulyect of breeding 

 cattle. The hereditai-y transmission among brute 

 animals of peculiar powers and qualities, from an- 

 cestry to offspring, has, in some countries, long 

 excited great interest among farmers as well as 

 gentlemen of the turf We in ^'irginia delight in 

 lookuig at fine horses, and riding them too ; and 

 some few among us know very well how to raise 

 them. But, in the general, we are guided more 

 by fancy lor the individual animal, or tlie price of 

 the season, than by the rules of breeding. The 

 most common error is, to breed from a small delicate 



* If any person could be so regardless ot iDropriety 

 as to play the critic in the manner and under the cir- 

 cumstances supposed above, the chances would be 

 twenty to one that he would place himself in a more ri- 

 diculous situation than him who was the subject of his 

 strictures. The observations of plain practical farmers 

 will be always read with attention and respect — not 

 only from motives of kindness and courtesy — but be- 

 cause the sound sense and solidity of their instruction 

 deserve and command respect. There is nothing more 

 mistaken than the general opinion of practical farmers, 

 of their unfitness for writing. "SVe are well experienced 

 (at least) in the readmg of agricultural journals, and 

 can conscientiously declare that Uie pieces that are best 

 received, and considered most valuable, have generally 

 proceeded from the pens of men who at first could 

 scarcely be induced to use them, from their too himible 

 estimate of their own powers, — [Ed, Farm. Reg. 



Vol. I. — 25 



mare and a large coarse horse, and vice versa— 

 thus destroying every natural tendency to the pro- 

 duction of peculiar powers and qualities, and re- 

 ducing the lace of our horses to a standard of 

 common mediocrity. In rearing cattle, we seem to 

 have a rule, which is, to breed from that race 

 which can most hardily endure the extreme of 

 privation in food, water and salt, the most cruel 

 beating from negroes, and which requires the 

 least shelter frcmVeather. Whatever may be its 

 design, its certain tendency is, to produce the most 

 worthless animal that the race is capable of afford- 

 ing. I have known a man, who experimented 

 with so much economy, as actually to ascertain 

 that a cow could be sustained through a hard win- 

 ter on a single ear of corn a day. This beats Pad- 

 dy's horse, for he died as soon as he had learned to 

 live on nothing. 



Having, in the general, in my section of the 

 state (the tobacco region,) a stock of cattle des- 

 cended from ancestry reared according to the fore- 

 going rule, we have felt but little need of any 

 other rules; for with but one breed, we could 

 not well apply rules for mixing breeds. For some 

 years however a spirit has been awaking for im- 

 provement on this subject, and although not gene- 

 ral, and not often directed by skill on'the subject, 

 has already produced very manifest benefit. This 

 spirit has led to the raising from the best animals 

 among us, and hi some neighborhoods to the pur- 

 chase of cattle from the mountains. And, until 

 animals of the peculiarly fine races become more 

 common, we will have "to rely chiefly on these 

 sources. I am very glad to learn tha't there ai'e 

 gentlemen in various parts of the stat*^ who have 

 been willing to incur both trouble and expense, in 

 order to introduce stock of cattle, hogs and sheep, 

 of superior races. I expect that much benefit will 

 result to the public, and I hope also to these pa- 

 triotic individuals, from their efforts. 



I should be highly pleased, were it in my pow- 

 er, to furnish an abstract of all that is known on 

 the subject of breeding. If there be infallible 

 rules for improving the breeds of animals, in re- 

 lation to any given points of form, powers or 

 qualities, I have not access to the books which con- 

 tain them. But having long been an observer of 

 the laws by which nature seems to regulate the 

 transmission of these things from parents to off- 

 spring, I have thought the result of my observa- 

 tions might not be unacceptable to you and your 

 readers. I will attempt to offer them in the fol- 

 lowing propositions. 



1. The direct offspring of two animals, belong- 

 ing to different races of the same species, partake 

 equally of the peculiarities of both parents, in co- 

 lor, form, powers and properties, and may be call- 

 ed mongrels. The mulatto, whose parents are, 

 one white and the other black, forms a suitable 

 example of what is here meant, for in every par- 

 ticular he seems to stand half way between the 

 white man and the negro. I %vould advert parti- 

 cularly to the mongrel character of his hair : it 

 is neither straight nor very much crisped, but 



