266 



PRINCIPLES OP IMPROVING DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



yet the many facta demonstrating the high market 

 value of superior stock — which facts might be cited 

 to almost any extent — Jeserve the serious considera- 

 tion of every man in any way interested in rural 

 economy. These remarks will apply to the breeding 

 of horses, mules, sheep, swine, and poultry, as well as 

 to the propagation of neat cattle. 



2. One general physiological law applies equally 

 to the improvement of all domesticated animals. 



The better to understand this law, or rather sys- 

 tem of vital laws, let us first study some of the most 

 important facts developed by the really successful 

 improvers of live stock. By common consent Mr. 

 Bates stands in the front rank of those most distin- 

 guished for their skill in cattle breeding; and the 

 writer has taken due pains to learn the piinciples on 

 which Mr. B. operated so profitably to himself and 

 beneficially to the public during forty-sis years. lie 

 united the improvement of a cold, heavy, worn out 

 clay farm of 1,000 acres, 600 in tillage and 400 in 

 grass laud, with the improvement of Short-IIorns; 

 and it is in this double capacity of a grain grower 

 ^nd grazier — the improver of land, of crops, and of 

 domestic animals — that this model English farmer 

 appears in his true character. The following state- 

 ments are from his own pen, and deserve every at- 

 tention, coming from one so practical and scientific 

 iu all his processes: 



" I had not long been engaged in farming before 

 I became thoroughly convinced that the atmosphere 

 contained the gieat ingredients for the amelioration 

 of the soil. This I discovered by seeing the good 

 effects of the same surface being exposed to the at- 

 mosphere as long a time as possible before turnip 

 ^eed was sown; and the fineness and openness being 

 increased without changing the surface, was the grand 

 desideratum. A field plowed in October after oats, 

 libbed across in February, and then only worked with 

 .1 scuBer afterwards, never again plowed till drilled 

 fur turnips, produced the heaviest crop per acre of 

 white turnips I ever saw; and this was in the year 

 IV.tS — the year Mr. George Cui.i.ey and Mr. Bailey 

 made the survey of the county of Northumberland 

 I'or the Board of Agriculture. 



"These two gentlemen examined that crop, and 

 they said they had never before seen so large a crop 

 of turnips. Nor have I since then; — ihey consider- 

 ably exceeded fifty tons per acre when they had stood 

 till February. They were sown in June. I meiition 

 this fact to induce young men to attend to the opera- 

 uiuns of nature. 



" I mentioned my views soon afterwards to an old 

 farmer, and thirty years afttrw.irds he acknowleBged 

 to me the benefit he received from my remarks, and 

 Oiut he never failed of obtaining a good crop of tur- 

 nips. 



" But till then he had kept working his land, and 

 [ilowing and replowing it again and again, up to the 



time of sowing; and that the more he worked, the 

 worse his crop; that my remarks had been many 

 hundred pounds benefit to him," 



Mr. Bates' farm being an adhesive clay, too mucb 

 stirring with the implements of tillage made it less 

 pervious to the atmusiihere than it was before. The 

 proportion of this kind of soil is less in this country 

 than in England; although in some States "mortar 

 land " is abundant. 



Before his death Mr. Batfs had drained 850 acres 

 of his farm. In the use of lime in conjunction with 

 peat, he gives the following experience: 



" I may also make a remark that may be nsefnl to 

 those who have found peaty earth mixed with new- 

 made dung highly beneficial, laying the same in lay- 

 ers twelve inches thick of peat earth to six inches of 

 dung as now made, turning the heap over a few 

 weeks before applying the same to the soil. I had 

 seen this done in Ayrshire. In 1805 I began the 

 practice, on my return home, and was soon convinced 

 of the benefit to be derived therefrom. In a distant 

 part of the farm I had a very deep peat moss; and 

 during the winter I mixed it in the same way with 

 new-made dung, the whole as mixed was applied tc 

 a turnip crop, and it was a complete faihre. 



" The barley sown after the turnijis was not hal 

 the crop I had previously had on the same field; auc 

 the clover and seeds that followed were the same. 1 

 then applied fifteen caldrons of lime per acre, am 

 plowed it in for an oat crop. The crop was a ver 

 great one, and the field afterwards continued ver 

 productive; but not having then studied chemistry 

 I could not account for the deterioration, and thei 

 the after improvement. This induced me to go t' 

 Eiliuburgh to study chemistry to account for tb 

 change. 



" The first trial I made of peat moss it was fre 

 from the oxyde of iron; the latter, that did the harn 

 had a very large portion of that salt; this destroyed 

 the dnng and rendeied it useless; but the applicatio 

 of a large dos^e of lime (fifteen caldrons per acre 

 removed the bad efliicts of the oxyde of iron, an 

 converted it into a beneficial manure. This hiu' 

 costly to me in the first instance, may, I hope, be e 

 benefit to others, and as such I have here detailed i^ 

 fally." 



This example of Mr. Bates fifty years ago, ia gc 

 ing to Edinbugh to study chemistry to understan 

 the nature and properties of " peat moss " and stabl 

 manure is worthy of all commendation ; and it str 

 kingly evinces that determination and talent whic 

 made him a world-wide reputation in after life. 



Now, the organic acids, as well as the acid salts ( 

 iron in peats, are better understood; nevertheless, w 

 often see such vegetable matter applied to an injur 

 ous extent on cultivated land without either lime ( 

 ashes to counteract its acidity. Mr. Bates starte 

 with the idea that he could double the product 

 each acre, and then make the vegetable food coi 

 sumed by each beast yield twice the return realize 



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