732 TuAiXSAcnOiXs of the America:^ J.\stitute. 



breeders. I will undertake to import tor all who wish to breed at 

 8125 each, in any quantitv, guaranteed to be thoroughbreds, both 

 rams and ewes. And I shall be quite at their service to give any 

 information for treatment, breeding, &c. I have samples with me, 

 and shall be glad to show *hem to any who would kindly give a call 

 on me. If any have mohair to sell 1 will give one dollar a pound, 

 and I can be addressed at 346 West Twenty-seventh street." 



Mr. R. ri. Williams. — I saw them in Kansas on Senator Pomeroy's 

 farm, and they promise to be of great value. Their wool makes the 

 lightest, handsomest, and most enduring fabric known to the arts, 

 and their pelts when tanned and colored, furnish the loveliest rugs, 

 mats, and cushion covers. 



Male and Female in Vegetables. 



Mr. E. J. Iluling, of Saratoga Springs, N. Y., one of the editors 

 of the Saratogian, wrote as follows : Mr. Hamilton Perry, of this 

 village, has a great taste for horticultural pursuits, and he argues that 

 there is a male and a female in every variety of the vegetable world, 

 as there is in the animal. In some varieties this male and female 

 part is combined in the same plant, as it is, for example, in the Wil- 

 son strawberry. In the potato, he says, the part known as " the seed 

 end " is the male, and where that portion only is planted, the product 

 will not be as large or healthy as if the other, or " female " end is 

 planted. He says that when he plants the female or stem end of the 

 potato, he never is troubled with the rot, but always has good, large 

 potatoes, and sound ones, too. His theory is that the female end 

 contains a larger proportion of starch to nourish the young plant and 

 give it an early start. I have faith in his potato theory, which he 

 has tested for years. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller. — Tiiere is not the least doubt that there is some- 

 thing in his theory as to using difierent ends of the potato, but the 

 idea of sex is not so sensible. 



Mr. E. Williams. — All careful experiments have resulted in ])roving 

 that the seed end is the best for planting. 



Improving the Mekino Ewe. 



Mr. Kewton Edmunds, of Yankton, Dacotah territory. — I have 



upward of 1,000 grade Spanish ewes. I wish to increase the length 



of wool and size of body, in order, so far as practicable, to meet the 



demand for such w^ool, and the market here for mutton sheep. I 



