SOUTKEEN GULTIVATOE. 
nr 
THE PEOGEESSIVE FAEMEE’S STOCK. 
Improved Stock, or rather the improvement of stock, is 
not unfrequently a passion with the progressive farmer. 
Its development, however, depends, in a greater or less de- 
gree upon location and the adaptation of his farm to graz- 
ing purposes. In this department he has an eye to beauty 
and blood, as well as profit. He knows from experience 
that it is nearly as easy and cheap to produce an animal 
worth SlOO as it is to raise one v/hich will sell for only 
half that amount ; and, moreover, that in so doing his 
cash dividends are not only handsome, but a just pride is 
gratified, and his pleasure measurably enhanced. In the 
line of horses, if his fancy turn in that direction, he is 
usually provided with specimens v/hich possess such de- 
sirable qualities as blood, beauty, spirit and endurance. 
For farm purposes, however, he prefers strength and ca- 
pacity for draft and other hard service. Of cattle he 
breeds those best suited to his taste and location — combin- 
ing pleasure and profit if possible. But whether Durhams, 
Devons, Ayrshires, Herefords, their gardes, or natives, he 
always endeavors to have the best of the kind, and 
aims at improvement. If a Dairyman, he selects cows 
from various sources — knowing that good, deep and rich 
milkers are occasionally found in all breeds; some families 
or strains of blood, in each, possessing extraordinary milk- 
producing qualities. But if beef- making or working ani- 
mals are leading objects, he selects and cultivates care- 
fully from such families as possess, in an eminent degree, 
the particular qualities and tendencies desired. Cause 
and elFect, and ultimate profit, are studied, understood, 
and their results demonstrated in the breeding and manag- 
ment of all domestic animals. As a general rule, our 
friend breeds from the best, whatever the expense in the 
outset, and finds such course to result in his decided ad- 
vantage. 
Hence his Sheep and Swine are of the best breeds ob- 
tainable, and always receive proper attention. If fine 
wool is his principal object, he first procures the right 
breed of sheep, and then by selection and improvement 
annually increases the weight and value of both fleece and 
carcass. And when he has once secured a good flock, he 
retains it until convinced that a change will result in im- 
provement, and that, too, notwithstanding the smooth yet 
somewhat fabulous yarns of itinerant peddlers, who, dis 
course mdfet eloquently about the strong constitutions, 
hardiness, heavy fleeces and superiority in other respects, 
of sheep from eastern or foreign localities. 
Concerning the points and qualities of the “Swinish mul- 
titude,” our friend is not altogether ignorant. From sun 
dry experiments, and other reliable sources of information, 
he has become tolerably wellposted touching the real and so 
called improved varieties cultivated in his own and distant 
localities. FIc long sinceignored the slab-aided, long- nosed, 
wind-splitting, thistle-digging, and decidedly racy speci- 
mens of the genus Sus, so prevalent even at the present day 
— and turned his attention to the introduction of .such 
plump and weighty varieties as the Leicester, Essex, Berk- 
shires. By fields, Chinese, Leincolnshires, Cheshires, and, 
more recently, the Suffolk's. Concerning the last-named 
he reports the discovery of some excellent and profitable 
points, though not yet satisfied that he has obtained the 
ne plus uUra^. But, notwithstanding bis attention to the 
improvement of Swine, there is one breed with which he 
is Tiot familiar. For reasons which he con.siders good and 
sufficient he declines, and indeed utterly refuses, to even 
experimeut with the — striped pig! 
Though the progressive farmer was never severely at- 
tacked with the “chicken fever,” so prevalent, if not ex- 
pensive, of late years, he still keeps some very choice 
Poultry. His annual war upon Turkey in America, gener- 
ally about Christmas-time, is usually quite productive, 
and fiur more satisfactory in its results than the recent pre- 
datory incursions of the Czar of all the Russias into the 
dominions of Turkey in Europe. The choice dishes com- 
posed of Poultry or eggs, or requiring them as proaiinene 
ingredients, are too easily and commonly produced at hisr 
board to be esteemed as luxuries, or even duly appreci- 
ated. Though he has some penchant for Asiatic and other 
foreign varieties of rare fowls, our friend v/ould not pro- 
bably travel as far to obtain a Shanghai chicken as John 
Randolph declared he would to kick a Sheep! 
But, whatever be the breed or kinds cultivated, our 
friend bestows sufficient attention to the care and manage- 
ment of his domestic animals to ensure their protectios^ 
and enhance his own pleasure and profit. He looks altke- 
to beauty, productiveness and quality, and enjoys- di'e ap- 
pearance and comfort of individual members of his flocks 
and herds, even while he figures upon their pecuniary 
•value. Keeping his stock in good condition through the 
winter, he possesses a decided advantage over those who> 
have hides for sole, or animals too weak or diseased for 
either service or profitable sale in the spring. Indeed, our 
friend keeps his stock in a progressive, and hence healthy 
and profitable, condition at all seasons — sufficient feed and 
proper shelter being always provided.— Grower.^ 
O— • * 
SAVE YOUR LAND. 
Among the subjects interesting to farmers, there is n&t 
one of more vital importance, than the one suggested by 
iheabove caption. The lands of our State have long beers- 
ranked with those of the old, worn out countries; SBcl 
hundreds of our people, so considering them, have emi- 
grated to the far West, v/hile others have taken tbeir 
places, and by their progressive skill in farming, witbia. 
the last ten or fifteen years have caused a wonderful 
provementto take place in the general aspect of ourcotia- 
try. So great has been the improvement that our l-and-s. 
have actually advanced 50 per cent, in value. If to ons 
cause, more than to another, this advance in value, is at- 
tributable, we are inclined to think it is that attention 
which farmers have within the same period of time paid to 
the saving of their lands, by the judicious use of gum' d 
drains or hill-side ditches, grading, &c. It is true that 
much of this improvement may have been effected by s. 
more liberal system of manuring, resiing, and rotation of 
crops; yet v/e think that those latter agents have had 
rather a tendency to increase the cr^ps than to save the 
land. That guard drains and dravuing are the best 
means of saving land from washing and wasting away 
can no longer be doubled. And yet some of our farmers 
are still murdering their lands by the old-fashioned up- and^ 
down hill culture ; while such a thing as a guard drain is. 
not to be seen on their premises. Tliis we consider ss 
fully, near akin to that of killing the goose for the golden 
egg. What is still more strange, some of these old land 
pirates, are numbered amongst our most inttlhge-nt favror 
ers. To such %ve say, save your land, and its increased 
productiveness and value, will amply remunemte you for 
the expense of grading and ditching. — Edgefield Adver- 
tiser. 
We would su.ggest to the South Carolina farmers refer- 
red to in the above article, that they may rid their eid® 
hills of the pernicious influence of resident water, arising 
from local springs, which approach near the surface, by a 
very simple method. Augers or borers arc made of two 
inches in diameter, similar to those u.sed for boring the 
soil for the insertion of telegraph posts, and if at spaces o-f 
20 feet apart in each direction, they will boreholes in their 
side hill soil, lifting out the earth to the depth of 3 feet, 
they may then insert in each hole a common ceiling lath, 
and the next day will be able to ascertain on which of 
the laths the water has risen to the highest point. 3y fol- 
lowing the line of those holes in which the water shall ap- 
proach nearest to the surface, they may make a drsvia 
