1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



159 



ductive of good to those of moderate wealth, and 

 little knowledge of farming. Can these lands be 

 enriched at an expense within the reach of those 

 thus situated ? 



Will some of your correspondents enlighten our 

 growing community on such topics as will afford 

 all necessary information to the young and inex- 

 perienced farmer of moderate or limited means. 



Boston, January 24, 1861. D. 



Remarks. — We cannot answer your questions 

 satisfactorily, even to ourself. Please tell us how 

 you think the results you desire may be gained. 



ISTE-W PTJBLICATIONS. 



Toe Principles op Breedino ; or Glimpses at the Physiolog 

 ical Laws involved in the Reproduction and Improvement of 

 Doaieslic Animals. By S. L. Goodale, Secretary of the 

 Maine Board of Agriculture. Boston: Crosby, Nichols, Lee 

 & Co. 1861. 



This is a well printed book of 161 pages, writ- 

 ten and published because the writer, in the pur- 

 suit of his business, saw the "want of some han- 

 dy book embodying the principles necessary to 

 be understood in order to secure improvement in 

 Domestic Animals." 



In the introduction to the book the author gives 

 some striking illustrations of what he desires to 

 teach, one of which is as follows : 



Let us reckon a little. Suppose a man Avishes 

 to buy a cow. Two are offered him, both four 

 years old, and which might probably be servicea- 

 ble for ten years to come. With the same food 

 and attendance the first will yield for ten months 

 in the year an average of five quarts per day, — 

 and the other for the same term will yield seven 

 quarts, and of equal quality. What is the com- 

 parative value of each ? The difference in yield 

 is six hundred quarts per annum. For the pur- 

 pose of this calculation we will suppose it worth 

 three cents per quart — amounting to eighteen 

 dollars. Is not the second cow, while she holds 

 out to give it, as good as the first, and three 

 hundred dollars at interest besides ? If the 

 first just pays for her food and attendance, the 

 second, yielding two-fifths more, pays fortij per 

 cent, profit annually ; and yet how many farmers 

 having two such cows for sale would make more 

 than ten, or twenty, or at most, thirty dollars 

 difference in the price ? The profit from one is 

 eighteen dollars a year — in ten years one hundred 

 and eighty dollars, besides the annual accumula- 

 tions of interest — the profit of the other is — noth- 

 ing. If the seller has need to keep one, would he 

 not be wiser to give away the first, than to part 

 with the second for a hundred dollars ? 



In the chapter upon the "Law of Similarity," 

 he gives numerous forcible examples, which, if 

 better understood in the rearing of animals — and 

 in reproducing and rearing human beings too — 

 •would be of vast service to the world. Read one 

 of them below : 



"We see hereditary transinission of a peculiar 

 type upon an extensive scale, in some of the dis- 

 tinct races, the Jews, and the Gypsies, for exam- 

 ple. Although exposed for centuries to the mod- 



ifying influences of diverse climates, to associa- 

 tion Avith peoples of widely differing customs and 

 habits, they never merge their peculiarities in 

 those of any people with whom they dwell, but 

 continue distinct. They retain the same features, 

 the same figures, the same manners, customs and 

 habits. The Jew in Poland, in Austria, in Lon- 

 don, or in New York, is the same ; and the mon- 

 ey-changers of the Temple at Jerusalem in the 

 time of our Lord may be seen to-day on change 

 in any of the larger marts of trade. How is this ? 

 Just because the Jew is a "thorough-bred." There 

 is M'ith him no intermarriage with the Gentile — 

 no crossing, no mingling of his organization with 

 that of another. When this ensues "permanence 

 of race" will cease and give place to variations of 

 any or of all sorts. 



In the chapter upon the "Law of Variation," 

 Mr. Goodale says : 



Very recently, in a paper published in the Aber- 

 deen Journal, a Veterinary Surgeon, Mr. James 

 McGillivray, of Huntley, has offered an explana- 

 tion which seems to me to be the true one. His 

 theory is that "when a pure animal of any breed 

 has been pregnant to an animal of a different 

 breed, such pregnant animal is a cross ever after, 

 the purity of her blood being lost in consequence 

 of her connection roith the foreign animal, herself 

 BECOMING A CROSS FOREVER incapable of pro- 

 ducing a pure calf of any breed." 



This doctrine we avowed seven years ago in an 

 agricultural mass meeting, and were pretty sound- 

 ly "drubbed" for our temerity. Thanks to Prof. 

 Nash, then of Amherst College, who came to the 

 rescue, we came off with flying colors, but did 

 not take the enemy with us ! It is a physiologi- 

 cal law, as much as that of gravitation, and we 

 are glad that one writer among us has had the 

 boldness to declare it. 



The remaining chapters are upon "Ancestral 

 Influence," "Relative Influence of the Parents," 

 "Laws of Sex," "In-and-in-Breeding," "Cross- 

 ing," "Breeding in the Line," and "Characteris- 

 tics of Breeds." The chapter upon the law of sex 

 is short, as well it may be. It will require long 

 and patient investigation, and a series of trials 

 that will test the endurance of any man, to arrive 

 at any plausible results on this point. 



The book is greatly needed, and ought to be 

 read by every adult in the country. 



Precautions in Using Zinc. — A report of a 

 committee appointed by the Central Society of 

 Architects, in Paris, recommends "that zinc, 

 which was at first rejected, but is now so general- 

 ly used, should be applied with great care, as cer- 

 tain precautions, very simple, but never to be 

 everlooked, are indispensable. Thus : contact 

 with plaster, which contains a destructive salt, is 

 to be avoided ; also, contact with iron, which is 

 very injurious, and liable to cause a rapid oxyda- 

 tion. Eave gutters should always be supported 

 by galvanized brackets, and no gutter or sheet 

 zinc should be laid on oak boards." 



