SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
269 
common sense, wfeo has once become fairly acquainted 
with them, would rather pass his unoccupied hours at 
home, in the circle of his family, displaying to its mem- 
bers the powers and excellencies of his microscope, thus 
cultivating in their minds a taste for scientific pursuits, 
than to waste those hours away from home in the turmoil 
and strife of political excitements, in the mind and soul- 
destroying region of a porter-house, or, in any of those 
many dens of dissipation, debauchery, and vice, which 
throw out the most alluring temptations, to catch the in- 
dolent, the unwary, the careless and the ignorant; to rob 
wives of the affections of their husbands, to make sons 
rebel against and cause anguish to their parents, despoil 
wives and daughters of all self-respect, and render them 
among the vilest of the vile. 
“Unfortunately, some have conceived the microscop 
to be mysterious instrument, capable ofbeing managed o 
understood only by certain particular persons. This, 
however, is great error ; it is intended as an improvement 
upon our sense of sight. Objects which can be seen well 
by the natural eye, do not require its assistance ; but wit 
those which are too small to be thus seen, we aid the 
power of vision by employing the microscope, and which 
every individual possessed of sight can readily ise. 
Persons with imperfect sight use spect icles to impi rve 
this sensa ; and the microscope improves the magnify mg 
and defining powers of the eyes. 
“A great obstacle to the more common use of the com- 
pound achromatic microscope, heretofore, has been in its 
expensiveness, but instruments are now made by our 
best opticians, called ‘student’s microscopes,’ which w‘l) 
accomplish all that any person- need desire. The value 
of a microscope does not lie so much in the beauty m 
workmanship of its brass mountings and other mete tic 
accompaniments, as in the quality of its object-glasses and 
eye-glasses. An object-glass itself, however great may 
be its magnifying power, is useless unless it possesses 
penetrating and defining power also. It is from a want 
of these latter powers in their objectives, that the French 
microscopes imported into this country are inferior in 
quality, notwithstanding the excellence of their brass- 
work and their low prices. 
“In purchasing a microscope, the name of its manufac- 
turer ought always to be learned, from the fact that our 
best microscspe makers never permit poor glasses to leave 
their workshops.” 
IN-AND-IN BREEDING. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — A new spirit seems 
to have taken some of the farmers and stock breeders of 
the South, within the past year, by surprise, and not a 
few have carried this vexed question almost beyond a 
doubt, and they boldly assert that in-and-in breeding, and 
no other, will do for stock breeders in future, either in this 
country or any other. 
After the valuable dissertation on “Hereditary Blood in 
Man and other Mammalia,” which has appeared in the 
columns of the C^dLlvatar, many seem' to consider the mat- 
ter of in-and-in breeding as permanently fixed, and that 
they have at least found the great desideratum so long 
wanting to complete success in stock breeding. Dr. Lee 
took the matter up with a skillful hand, and none will 
say that he did not handle his subject in a masterly man- 
ner. He left no stone unturned which would help to throw 
some light upon the subject. 
But here a question arises among the mass of stock 
breeders, will in aiid in breeding always ensure success, 
and give the desired end at all times, and under all cir- 
cumstances'? or will the majority of the cases result bene- 
ficially 1 Let us see ! It took many years of close study 
and constant care to establish the foundation of the pre- 
sent Devon Stock. They were forrn#ly of small size and 
very inferior milkers— many unsuccessful attempts were 
made to improve them. I'he in and-in breeders dare not 
leave the Devon stock for improvement, and those who 
were more venturesome lacked the knowledge of the 
requisite qualities wanted to make the Devon a finer ani- 
mal. We undoubtedly owe the present improvement to 
Mr. Bloomfield, the manager of Lord Leicester’s estate at 
Holkham. He made a great improvement in the size and 
milking qualities of this valuable breed, without materi- 
ally improving the beauty and form of the animal. He 
really deserves the great credit and honor which he has 
received. But how did he accomplish this result? He 
took a finely formed, good sized, deep colored Durham 
bull and ingrafted him with some large and superior 
heifers (of the Devon breed) that their after progeny might 
partake of the bull which first served them, a case by no 
means uncommon with cattle, one very perceivable in 
horses, and to some extent among sheep and swine, and 
not an uncommon occurrence with the human family. 
' will not stop here to note this subject, but it the reader 
will refer to ene of the back numbers of the Cultivator^ he 
will find an article to the effect, from myself. But. ki me 
get back again to my subject. Mr. Bloomfield, then, with 
the after progeny of these Devon heifers which had been 
served, he bred them to large and finely formed Devons 
which were little or no relation to each other. By this means 
he produced the finely formed Devons of the present, day ; 
and for us to keep this stock at its proper standard, it is 
necessary for stock breeders to breed in-and-in, but how 
close the relationship may exist and not deteriorate the 
herd is a question which remains to be proved, and only 
experience will do that. 
As with cattle, so with sheep. Let us take the Bake- 
well or Leicester, a breed of sheep which have been kept 
in a certain state of perfection for nearly a century. They 
were originally the produce of a full sized Romny-Marsh 
ewe and a Cheviot — the first a coarse, ungainly animal of 
slow growth and of very little real value; the other a 
finely formed but very small animal, quick to grow, ari < 
having medium quality wool, from four to seven inche s 
long. By breeding the progeny of these sheep to some 
of the finest sheep then found in England, Mr. Bakewell 
has produced the far-famed and justly celebrated animals 
so well known throughout England and this country at 
the present day. It is true that he must have practiced 
the in-and-in system — the parent upoh the progeny— for 
several successive generations, which had a tendency to 
impress effectually the desired characteristics of the race, 
and it is certain that even Mr. Bakewell carried the refin- 
ing system to such an extent as to partially destroy the 
procreative powers. And he was subsequently obliged to 
introduce new animals to re-invigorate and continue his 
flock, showing by his own experiments that by carrying 
the in-and-in system too far it would ultimately destroy 
the improvements he bad already made in his flock. 
But with this is there not another consideration? Did 
not his nice discrimination of the character and qualities 
of sheep, his choice selections, his pampered feeding and 
judicious management, all have their bearing upon bring- 
ing this breed to a state of perfection? We should em- 
phatically say. Yes ! 
The breeding from too close affinities, though it may 
have many advantages, to a certain extent, in the hands 
of skillful breeders; though it may be pursued until the 
excellent form and quality of a breed is developed and 
established, and was the source whence sprung the su- 
perior cattle and sheep of Mr. Bakewell, and, to some ex- 
tent, the Short Horns of Mr. Colling ; yet to it, also, must 
be traced the speedy degeneracy — the absolute disappear- 
ance ot the new Leicester cattle, and in the hands of 
many agriculturists, the impairment of the constitution of 
the new Leicester or Bakewell sheep. 
Mr n.a'rpwpll v.'as a master soirit in breeding, and, j 
