THE SOUTHE 



RN PLANTER. 



merely to feed them well and give them good 

 stabling, paying no attention at all to the selec- 

 tion of breeders. All will admit that stock 

 raised and kept in this way would soon " run 

 out," no matter how good it may have been at 

 the beginning. Well, what is high feeding of 

 stock but analagous to high manuring of land ? 

 The one feeds the cattle, the other feeds the 

 crops; neither does any thing more than supply 

 the wants of the individual animal or plant. It 

 does not and cannot change the character or 

 quality of its progeny. When feeding, either 

 of plants or animals, does all it can, it does no 

 more than simply keep the individuals as they 

 were, in reference to their natures — it generally 

 produces a good crop, or a fat animal, and that 

 is all. 



" But," I anticipate I shall be asked, " how 

 are we to improve our corn, wheat, &c. by cross 

 breeding V' 



Wheat, rye and oats, may all be treated alike — 

 and the process given for one will answer for 

 all. Take several good kinds of wheat, bald 

 headed and bearded, blue stem, purple stem, red 

 and white, five or six kinds in all ; mix them 

 together thoroughly, and sow the parcel in some 

 good ground at a considerable distance from 

 any other wheat field. At harvest time go into 

 the field and select the best heads, those that 

 are largest, best filled, and that contain the best 

 grains, on the shortest and robust stalks, and 

 keep the seed for another year's sowing. The 

 next year at harvest make the same selection 

 for seed. Continue this selection for two or 

 three years, and then you will find you will 

 have a wonderfully improved varieiy of wheat. 

 But to keep the quality of this new wheat up 

 to its standard, and even to continue the improve- 

 ment, you ought always to select a quantity for 

 the succeeding year's sowing in the same way. 

 This is not as troublesome as at first sight it 

 appears to be. A half a bushel or a bushel of 

 seed wheat, may easily be selected in this way 

 in a few hours — hours that possibly might not 

 have been devoted to as profitable employment. 



The cross breeding of corn requires a little 

 more trouble. You have an excellent kind of 

 corn, but it is late in maturing and has rather a 

 large cob. Select some other kind of corn that 

 ripens as early as you desire, and has the right 

 sized cob. Plant, your late kind as early in the 

 spring as you can, in every alternate hill, leav- 

 ing the other hills vacant. At a later period, 

 say twenty to thirty days later, (according to 

 the difference between the two kinds,) plant the 

 vacant hills with the early corn. The place of 

 the experiment should be remote from any other 

 corn field. Cultivate both in the usual way, 

 untd you observe the tassels of the early kind 

 beginning to push. Then carefully cut out all 

 the tassels of this early kind — do nothing to 

 'ho late kind. Watch carefully and cut out all 



tassels as they appear from this kind. When 

 the corn is ripe select all the good ears of the 

 early kind for next year's planting. Plant this 

 selected seed in the usual way the second year, 

 and when ripe, select the best ears of the ear- 

 liest ripening. You will find in these ears a 

 variety of grains in shape and color, and of dif- 

 ferent quality — there will be grains resembling 

 both original parent stocks. Now select the 

 grains that suit you. All the grains will pro- 

 duce a small cob and early corn ; but some of 

 the grain on the cobs may be small and inferior 

 like the original parent ; therefore, on this the 

 third year, select the grains. Generally this 

 third planting will establish the variety; but 

 the better way is to continue to select your seed 

 every year. You may now select seed with a 

 view to increasing the number of ears to the 

 stalk; but take care to avoid selecting small 

 ears simply because there are many on the stalk. 

 If you find a stalk with three full sized ears, it 

 is better to take them than those from a stalk 

 that has four small ones. 



By these means corn is susceptible of almost 

 any degree of improvement and change of cha- 

 racter ; and I am fully satisfied that there is no 

 one branch of agriculture that would so well 

 pay for the small amount of labor and attention 

 required. 



AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL 

 FAIR OF THE" HENRICO SOCIETY. 



On the first day of November, the Agricul- 

 tural and Horticultural Society of Henrico, held 

 their sixth fair in the public room of the Ex- 

 change Hotel. The fall meeting is chiefly hor- 

 ticultural, and we were rather disappointed at 

 the meagre exhibition of fruits and vegetables. 

 We missed, particularly, that beautiful display 

 of dahlias, that gives such a charm to these ex- 

 hibitions in the northern cities. 



But there was a new feature added to the ex- 

 hibition this year, that we were pleased to find 

 excited the liveliest interest among the visiters. 

 Premiums were, for the first time, offered for the 

 best specimens of mechanical skill in the differ- 

 ent arts, and the exhibition proved, as we knew 

 it would, that our city artisans, in several de- 

 partments, can vie with any in America, proba- 

 bly with any in the world. There was a case 

 of surgical instruments from the manufactory cf 

 Mr. Kern, that we have good authority for say- 

 ing cannot be excelled, hardly equalled, in the 

 Union. There were displays of harness and 

 saddlery by Messrs. Colquitt, Otey and Aus- 

 tin, that would have done honor to the best ex- 

 hibition at the American Institute in New York. 



