THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



397 



6. You may cut off the ears and tails 

 of ten thousand rams, and yet after that, 

 every one of them will beget Iambs, with 

 full ears and long tails. But if a ram 

 chances to be born without ears and with- 

 out a tail, he is nearly certain to beget 

 some lambs with the^e same peculiai ities. 

 And these of his get, are still more certain 

 to beget others with these peculiarities ; 

 and the certainty increases with every gen- 

 eration. At length, you establish that va- 

 riety of sheep. Occasionally, a tail and 

 ears may come forth ; just as occasionally, 

 a black nose, in the Durham. It is in 

 this manner that only congenital peculiar- 

 ities are capable of being re-produced and 

 perpetuated ; and it is perfectly obvious 

 that the more thoroughly you adhere to 

 such as have the peculiarity, the more 

 certain you are to establish and perpetuate 

 it. . 



7. To a certain extent, therefore, all 

 pure breeding is in-and-in breeding. If 

 you step over a certain circle, within which 

 all are of the same blood, you get back at 

 one step, nearly to the point where some 

 one started, perhaps a thousand years ago, 

 with the primeval individual, with the ac- 

 cidental natural peculiarity, which now 

 marks such, or such a race. Inside of 

 this circle, within which you must confine 

 yourself, in all pure breeding, there are 

 many other smaller circles, all of which 

 become more intensely affiliated to certain 

 purities, or certain peculiarities ; the in- 

 nermost one of which, is the very closest 

 in-and-in breeding. It is the very same 

 principle which runs all through. The 

 only real question is, as to the wisest 

 method of its application. Pure breeding, 

 and in-and-in breeding, are the same 

 thing. 



8. The experience of the most success- 

 ful breeders in all countries, has continu- 

 ally verified those results, which the fair 

 theoretical analysis of the facts of the 

 case establishes ; and incontestably proves 

 the clamor against in-and-in breeding to 

 be in effect tantamount to a clamor against 

 all thorough breeding. 



T 1 



In the first place, let us rest satisfied 

 that beyond a doubt, our animal is half- 

 blooded of his father, and the other half 

 of his mother ; and therefore, let us be 

 perfectly certain who they are, and what 

 they are ; for half his blood is quite another 

 thing, from the thousandth part of his 



blood. And in the next place, if thus 

 produced from a father and. a mother, that 



suited us — and if he or she also suits us — 

 let us rest assured that we run no serious 

 risk of being unsuited by pressing these 

 suitable things a little further, watching as 

 we go. The sire and dam of Renick, were 

 full brother and sister; the closest possi- 

 ble. If all is well, we have thus intensi- 

 fied all the qualities we had obtained. 

 Don't try it much quite so near ; but don't 

 fear. They say your stock will become 

 barren. In more than thirty years, I never 

 raised a barren cow, that was not a Free- 

 Martin ; and I have a cow at present that 

 brought me four fine calves, at two births, 

 in less than one year, and raised them 

 all. — Ohio Farmer. 



Agricola. 



From the Farmer and Planter. 



■ On the €nlture of the Sweet Potato. 



Mr. Editor : — I have always felt disposed 

 to impart any agricultural knowledge that I 

 may have acquired from experience. I will 

 now state my plan and practice for many years 

 in preparing land for, and planting potatoes. 

 In the first place, I take a piece of land that is 

 high and sandy, for I am like every other plan- 

 ter, I prefer high and sanely land for potatoes, 

 and the first year I lay it off 4 feet with a good 

 shovel plow, and put 3 bushels of good com- 

 post manure to eaeh task row. I put the ma- 

 nure in the track furrow, and then run 2 fur- 

 rows on it with a good shovel plow. On this 

 ridge I plant cotton the first year ; the next 

 year, as soon as it is time to plant potatoes, 

 which, with me, is about the first week in 

 April, I thrash all of the limbs from the cotton 

 stalks, leaving the stalks standing. I then take 

 a good shovel plow and run up on the beds 

 close to the stalks on each side, and if those 2 

 furrows do not plow up the stalks, I run one 

 more on the top of the beds, which will invari- 

 ably do the work, or loosen them so much that 

 the hands can pull them up, which I make 

 them do and bum them. As soon as I get all 

 the stalks pulled up and burnt, I turn the plow 

 back, and make as good a bed as I can with 

 the plow, on the same bed that the cotton was 

 planted, so that my potatoes will have the ben- 

 efit of the manure that was put on the previ- 

 ous year. I then open my seed bank, and let 

 some cut and some plant, so as not to have the 

 potatoes too long out of the ground after they 

 are cut, (I never plant whole potatoes). I cut my 

 potatoes from £ to 2 inches long. One hand open 

 holes, and one drops the potatoes, I open with the 

 point of the hoe on the bed about 12 or 14 

 inches, which is plenty near enough to plant- 

 potatoes, the hand droping the potatoes and 



