THE FARiMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



35 



meeting in a somewhat desultory manner, on the 

 subject of Jive stock generally — bipeds and quad- 

 rupeds. 



He begun with the subject of raising sheep. 

 The county of Essex, in whicli he resided, is 

 not adapted to the raising of sheep, on a large 

 scale. He is accustomed to keep a small flock 

 of fifteen, which ho had found a source of much 

 profit. He so arranged that they should lamb 

 early ; in four months, the lambs were fit for the 

 market. He is accustomed to keep his sheep <m 

 buckhorn, (meadow hay.) He Ibund the wool 

 valuable in his tiimily ; and he ordinarily sold the 

 lambs for four dollars eacli. The lambs of one 

 sheep, which last year brought twins, gave him 

 seven dollars, besides four pounds of wool, which 

 was valued at fifty cents per pound. He knows 

 of no species of stock, which, to a certain exieut, 

 is so profitable as sheep. The fences in his part 

 of the country are not good against sheep ; and 

 he accordingly fettens them with leather thongs, 

 which cost six cents to a sheep. His experience 

 satisfied him, likewise, that it they have the ma- 

 terials, eheop will make as much and as valuable 

 manure as any species of stock. This manure 

 he had found excellent for potatoes and turnips. 

 For his purposes, he preferred the native sheej). 

 Tlie wool brought from fifty to fifty-five cents; 

 and he deemed the mutton superior to the meri- 

 no. 



Among his white sheej) he in one case bad 

 seven black laml)s, and he would be very glad 

 if Col. Jaques would explain the mystery. He in 

 one case had a large, flat-tailed ram, said to have 

 been brought from Bordeaux. The lambs from 

 this cross with his native shee]) were larger than 

 he had had before, and always brought a quarter 

 of a dollar more in market. Lambs, which will 

 weigh ten pounds a quarter, are always a profita- 

 ble stock. 



He thought farmers should keep sheep, as it 

 might induce a farmer's daughters, if he liad any, 

 to learn to spin ; an art almost forgotten in the 

 country, but important as a branch of household 

 economy. 



He went on to say he had been familiar with 

 teaming, and had driven much himself. He was 

 never troubled with oxen " hauling," (i. c. pulling 

 from each other) unless they were fretted. It 

 was a bad practice, iu such case, to goad the oif- 

 ox. If they are treated with gentleness, they will 

 be cured of the habit. A good deal of attention 

 should be paid to the shoeing of oxen. If an ox 

 "hauls," he should have a thin shoe and a small 

 cork, or he may be ruined. Drivers, who are 

 not always careful, ought to attend to this. The 

 breaking of steers is of great imjjortance. They 

 may easily be got into bad habits, if not managed 

 with much care. He had a neighbor, Mr. Jed- 

 ediah H. Barker of Audover, distinguished for 

 his skill in breaking cattle, fllr. Barker never al- 

 lowed boys to manage them. His steers are 

 yoked at one year oldand at three are well-broken. 

 He never whips or strikes his cattle. He has ta- 

 ken many premiums for well-trained cattle, 

 and can always command the highest price for 

 his o.xen. 



Gen. Low prefers our native breed of cattle. 

 He had had a native bull, which iiad come from 

 an improved native stock, and his calves were 

 nuich approved. He allows his calves to remain 

 bulls until one year old, and thinks them much 

 liardier than if altered earlier. They will bring 

 as much by the hundred as others in the market. 



The General went on then to speak, with all 

 the gallantry of a military man, of a team of wo- 

 men — a mother and two daughters, in his neigh- 

 borhood — who manage their own farm veiy well, 

 r.lmost exclusively with their own labor. He 

 descanted itpon their sjiirit and industry, their 

 athletic and nolile forms, and their athletic and 

 •noble deeds, with so much youtiiful arJor, that 

 we must shake han<ls with the General as a 

 whole woman's-rights- man ; but we shall not 

 burn our fingers by attempting to re[)ort his 

 glowing remarks. We cpn only say, that one 

 such gill as he described, for a wife, if any man 

 had the courr-ge to take her, would be worth 

 more than a whole township of land to a Wes- 

 tern emigrant. The General then branched off 

 into various topics of temale education and dress, 

 tight-lacing and rounded forms, that with a com- 

 mon steel pen, with its nib entirely worn oflT, we 

 could not do even the shadow of justice to his 

 vivid nnrl poptica! efi'iision, and therefore shall 



leave that to the young and susceptible reporters 

 of the Boston Cultivator and the New-England 

 Farmer. They scorned to be smacking their lips 

 during the delivery of the whole of this part of 

 the speech. 



Col. Jaques, then, who evidently began to feel 

 some of the warmth of the occasion, and stood 

 like a race-horse just brought out to the starting- 

 place, replied very properly to the General's in- 

 quiries ; and expressed a liope that such valua- 

 ble races of live .stock as those of the General's 

 bulls and the Boxford working-girls might be 

 continued; improvement they certainly did not 

 admit of; and, indeed, there seemed to be little 

 danger of their running out, as the General's ex- 

 traordinary discoveries in breeding, to which we 

 can only allude, seemed to contradict all the re- 

 cognized and established laws of nature, and 

 promised a perpetuation of the stock, even in 

 spite of these laws. 



Jlr. .laques was of opinion, that if the General 

 could trace back his flock of sheep through sev- 

 eral preceding generations, he would find some 

 taint in the blood, which now began to show it- 

 self, and which would explain the occurrence of 

 his seven black lambs. Sometimes, a red cow 

 and a black bull would produce a white calf; 

 and the cause of this might be found in some re- 

 mote ancestor. 



Mr. Jaques now proceeded to speak of the 

 points to be regarded in the selection of a horse. 

 In choosing a horse for a roadster or traveler, he 

 wished to have a light head neatly put on ; the 

 neck rising promptly and strong liom the shoul- 

 ders and withers; the neck somewhat crowning 

 or curving on the top and tapering towards the 

 head, with a strong crest. The shoulders should 

 be well-laid in, spreading well back, somewhat 

 like a shoulder of mutton. He would have the 

 chest deep and slightly projecting; the withers 

 rising moderately high, and inclining well into 

 the back. If the withers are low and flat on the 

 top, the horse will be inclined to plunge to the 

 ground ; and when fatigued will stimible or fall. 

 But the withers must not rise too high, as he will 

 then appear as though on stilts. Either extreme 

 is an impediment to free and safe action. He 

 should have ribs rounding well out; back short, 

 straight and well coupled,'that is, the hips thrown 

 forward, forming a strong loin, and a long lever 

 from the point of the hip to the liock joint of the 

 hind leg. The horse should be of good length 

 from the point of the shoulder to the extreme of 

 the buttock. He should have a strong and bushy 

 dock, and be close and snug under the dock ; for 

 if he be large and loose there, he will be apt to 

 scour, and be fit only for a door-yard horse. He 

 should be full in the twist, that is, the inner parts 

 of the thighs should be well shut together. The 

 head, neck, and body ibrm a lever, resting on the 

 fore legs as a fulcrum ; the head being at the end 

 of the lever. If the neck be very long and the 

 head heavy, or the neck quite short and light, ei- 

 ther extreme will impede his action. The whole 

 machine should be well-ijroportioned. Much de- 

 pends on the shoulders being well-placed. The 

 length and size of the fore-arm, is a very impor- 

 tant point. He must have a full muscle on the 

 arm, and the shank-bone, below the knee, should 

 be short, broad and flat. When the rider is 

 mounted, he should be thrown back upon the 

 haunches of the horse. The legs should be clean 

 and free from blemish ; and when in motion 

 move true, and fiee from cutting or " wabbling." 

 The feet should be round and steep ; the heels 

 broad ; the coronet and pasterns of medium 

 length. Mr. Jaques wishes to see distinctly the 

 cords in the limbs. The knee should be large 

 and well-droppeil dowu ; the arm above the knee 

 long, and the nuiscles large and ftdl. The tops 

 of the shoulders, where matched to the withers, 

 should not be so heavily loaded with muscle as to 

 impede their action. He does not object to have 

 the fore-feet move closely to each other; but not 

 so as to interfere. Much depends on the form of 

 the hind leg and the power of the lever, as re- 

 gards strength and speed. The shank, hock and 

 thigh should be broad and flat, resembling that 

 of an ox; if so, when in motion they will operate 

 like a plank sprung edgewise and then let fly. 

 He has no objection when the horse is at good 

 speed, to have the hind legs open and spread a 

 little, if there is a free action in the hock-joint. 

 The necks of many horses appear to be wrong 

 side up. He would choose to have him fifteen 



and a half hands high, and to weigh a thousand 

 pounds. 



He went on to say that he considered nothing 

 more valuable than a good cow, which would 

 give eighteen quarts of milk per day, and four- 

 teen pounds of butter per week. He thought it 

 necessary to establish a breed for New-England. 

 He deemed it important to import foreign stock, 

 of established blood. Fine individual cows a- 

 mong us, which produce much milk and butter, 

 are often the progeny of a mean stock, and there 

 is therefore no certainty of perpetuating their 

 good qualities. Farmers pay little attention to 

 the character of their bulls, and are always ready 

 to sell their best calves to the butcher. 



Mr. Jaques had not had an extensive experi- 

 ence with swine. He disapproved of the system 

 of breeding in and in ; and yet there were facts in 

 relation to this matter, which strongly conflicted 

 with the general theories. 



He spoke, again, with much emphasis, of the 

 value of sheep ; and especially of the adapted- 

 ness of the South Down to our wants. His own 

 flock was excellent. Their average yield of wool 

 was four pounds to a fleece. He had one weth- 

 er which standing, weighed 219 pounds, and for 

 the meat of which he received twenty dollars. 



Mr. French of Braintree inquires of Mr. 

 Jaques, how much milk his cows would average 

 per day ? 



Mr. "Jaques has made no record of this. His 

 object has been to raise stock, and not quantity 

 of milk. Some of his cows now give twelve 

 quarts per day. The greatest quantity he has 

 ever obtained is twenty-one quarts per day. He 

 can produce a flush of milk by corn and roots ; 

 but it has been his object to raise his stock upon 

 grass and hay, so that when sold, they might 

 thrive upon other keeping, and not fall away. It 

 is often said that the keep determines the quanti- 

 ty of milk. Milkmen can answer this question. 



Mr. Cole remarked that much had been said 

 upon breeding stock, but no great principles had 

 been established. Two principles have been 

 assumed. The first, that like produces like. 

 This applies to vegetables, also. This is likely 

 to happen. But it requires many generations to 

 fix this matter, and to render it sure that the an- 

 cestor shall transmit his qualities to his offspring. 



If a farmer plants only one kind of corn, and 

 studiously avoids any mixture, he may preserve it 

 pure ; but if different kinds have been intermix- 

 ed, tt will take some time to recover the original, 

 or to separate one kind from another. He had 

 had a colored corn intermixed with his crop, and 

 it required five years to work out the colored. 



He believed that with breeding animals, iho 

 imagination has considerable influence. For 

 twenty or thirty years, he had had occasionally 

 black sheep in" his flock. This he believed was 

 the effect of imagination on the breeding ani- 

 mals. There was an influence on the progeny, 

 from both male and female. It is said a superior 

 male has most influence. This was probably the 

 case with full bred animals, because their promi- 

 nent properties had been fixed by a long success- 

 ion. In Arabia, the offspring, it is said, follow 

 the female side, because there the mares are al- 

 ways objects of the most exact care and atten- 

 tion. As a general thing, it could not be deter- 

 mined which side would most strongly mark its 

 progeny. It was different with blood-stock, or 

 liigh bred animals. 



Another principle, having a material influence, 

 had not been named. Which animal would de- 

 termine the sex of the progeny ? He believed it 

 would bo found that the most vigorous would 

 settle this matter. In an exjioriment made to test 

 this point, an individual had been able, by using 

 a young and comparatively feeble ram with a 

 flock of vigorous ewes, to produce 172 feinales 

 to 100 males ; and this individual had said, if 

 others would furnish the flocks, he would pro- 

 duce, at pleasure, male or female. With one 

 flock, by using very young rams, he produced 

 76 females to 30 males. By using a strong and 

 vigorous ram, he produced 55 males to 30 fe- 

 males. He divided his flock, according to 

 strength of females ; they were between four and 

 five years old, and he produced 25 females to 15 

 males. In another case, he took ewes under 

 four years old, and put vigorous rams with them, 

 and produced 26 males to 14 females. These 

 were well authenticated experiments which had 

 been made in France. From five young mares, 



