318 



NEW ENGLAND FARMEK. 



JCLT 



"We know very well that somebody must build 

 up and establish breeds ; that the Short-horns 

 among cattle, and the Dishley Leicester among 

 sheep, were created by careful selection and 

 crossing, and no doubt that by judicious breed- 

 ing from what are termed Natives in America, we 

 ip.ight in time create a valuable breed for any def- 

 inite purpose we might have in view. The ques- 

 tion, however, first to be answered, is, — What do 

 we want ? That being definitely answered, then 

 we may inquire whether the breed possessing the 

 desired qualities, already exists. If it does, why 

 should we not use it ? If it does not, common 

 judgment would dictate to us to select carefully 

 from those breeds of established qualities nearest 

 resembling what we seek, and by judicious cross- 

 ing patiently build up the breed we desire. The 

 great error of most farmers is, that they regard 

 individual merit above well established blood. 

 We have known, for instance, among a herd of 

 Devons, a male calf produced, which had all the 

 external marks of the breed, the rich mahogany, 

 color, the silky feel of the skin, the fine clear eye, 

 but which outgrew all others of the herd, so that 

 the owner at once selected him as a breeder. His 

 superior size, however, was due to a strain of 

 Shorthorn blood in his dam, and this circum- 

 stance, which really added to his value as an in- 

 dividual, whether for labor or beef, ruined his 

 progeny, for nearly all his calves, even from 

 pure bred cows, were marked with v.hite, and so 

 were utterly worthless as pure bred Devons. 



We have not attempted at all to give the views 

 of Mr. Goodale, but only to discuss loosely some 

 of his topics which are of interest to all breeders 

 of stock. They are handled in a masterly man- 

 ner by the author, in his modest treatise, which 

 ■we commend to all for careful perusal. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 "WILL OATS HUKT SHEEP. 



In reply to the above inquiries of "N. M., of 

 Henniker, N. IL," 1 will say that after seventeen 

 years' experience in sheep and wool-growing, I 

 am fully convinced that oats are not only safe but 

 profitable to feed to sheep. Two flocks of ewes, 

 all things being equal, say of fifty each, one of 

 them fed on hay only through the winter, the oth- 

 er with hay of the same quality and one bushel of 

 oats per head, which is about one and one-half 

 gill each per day, through the winter, will clip 

 one pound more wool each. Oats jiaid for once. 

 They will raise one-third more lambs. Oats paid 

 for tivice. They will be in one-third better con- 

 dition to go to pasture. Oats paid for </(rce times. 

 This we call a good investment up here among 

 the Green Mountains. 



I have kept three hundred sheep on an average 

 for the last seventeen years, and feed from three 

 to five hundred bushels of oats to my flocks in 

 winter, and am fully convinced that they are not 



only safe but profitable. Sheep are very fond of 

 them, they will leave troughs of any other kind 

 of grain and eat the oats first. If you don't believe 

 it now, you will, after you have tried it. H. F. 

 Highland Lodge, Vt., April 1, 1861. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ON" THE BLIGHTED CHEKRY BLOSSOMS, 



Mr. Editor : — The unusual appearance of our 

 cultivated cherry trees is exciting considerable at- 

 tention. Few blossoms can be found, and on 

 many of the trees not a single one has appeared. 

 The leaves are just beginning to develop them- 

 selves ; these are produced from the end or ter- 

 minal buds of the twigs, and exist first as little 

 brov/n leaves, folded inward on their mid-veins, 

 enclosed and hidden by a number of scaly or 

 greenish bud-scales ; perhaps they are more 

 backward than usual tin's season, but I do not 

 know that there is anything else out of the way 

 with them. The strange aspect of the trees is 

 due to what at first appears to be a great transfor- 

 mation of the flowers ; these are produced from 

 the side or lateral buds of the twigs, but in place 

 oftheM'hite blossoms, are found what look like 

 green flowers, consisting of a number of small, 

 thin, dry scales at their base outside, then three 

 or four larger, rounded, greenish ones, as if rep- 

 resenting a calyx, then three others, more leaf- 

 like in appearance, as if in place of a corolla, and 

 in the centre o'f all, concealed by them, two, three, 

 or four little brown bodies, which might be 

 thought to represent abortive stamens and pistils. 

 As ail the parts of the flower are really nothing 

 but transformed leaves of various colors and 

 shapes, there was nothing very unnatural in the 

 idea that these strange productions of the cherry 

 trees were flowers, reverting to leafy branches, a 

 phenomenon which does sometimes occur under 

 cultivation. But a closer examination and com- 

 parison with real blossoms, has enabled me to 

 satisfy myself as to the true nature of the peculi- 

 arity. 



Let us go at once to the very bottom of the 

 matter. What are those little brown bodies \n 

 the centre of the supposed flower ? They are of 

 an oval form, quite hard and shining, as if with 

 dried gum, and often flattened at the top. They 

 stand erect, on a little pedestal which may be 

 easily separated from the end of the twig. Now 

 soften them in warm water ; pull one in pieces 

 with a pair of needles, and examine it carefully 

 with a magnifying-glass ; we may easily detect 

 therein the several parts of a flower in a very ru- 

 dimentary state, namely, a calyx of brown sepals, 

 enclosing a number of little round granules, which 

 are the anthers or tops of the stamens, the fila- 

 ments being as yet undeveloped, and in the midst 

 of these, the club-shaped pistil, the corolla can- 

 not be distinguished, for, though developed just 

 after the calyx, it remains long as a mere rudi- 

 ment, only at a later period acquiring the size 

 and hue which renders it the most conspicuous 

 part of the blossom. There can be no question 

 that these little hard bodies are flowers, closely 

 packed as buds, the future pedicels not yet having 

 lengthened. They are, in fact, in the same stage 

 of development in which they were last autumn, 

 several of these little buds having been then 



