995 
1861.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
good qualities, and the power they have acquired 
of transmitting their qualities, is of the very 
highest value to breeders. 
The lesson to be learned from these illustra¬ 
tion is, that by careful selection of good animals 
for breeding, every owner of stock may improve 
the quality of his animals. A man begins this 
year and breeds together two or more pairs of 
the best he can find among his own stock—per¬ 
haps gets one of the pair from the best among his 
neighbors. From the progeny lie selects the 
best again, and so on; and in the course of fif¬ 
teen or twenty years he has five or six genera¬ 
tions of pedigree cattle. The continuance of 
this careful selection will, in time, establish a fam¬ 
ily of thorough bred animals, of infinitely great er 
value for breeding purposes than the mixed 
races which contain many strains of poor blood. 
Every man can not hope to become a Bates or 
a Webb, but all can improve their stock from 
year to year, and at a cost that will pay. Here 
is an extract from the Oxford Journal (Eng.), 
which illustrates our subject well, and which 
gives an interesting history of the origin of the 
Duchess family of Short Horn (Durham) Cat¬ 
tle, to which Mr. Thorne’s high-bred bull belongs: 
“ More than half a century ago, when Charles 
Colling’s herd was sold, a young heifer, named 
Duchess, was bought by Mr. Thomas Bates, of Kirk- 
leavington. From her has descended a tribe of 
Short Horns known as Duchesses, which are be¬ 
lieved to possess all the leading merits of the breed 
in an extraordinary degree. In particular, they are 
possessed of a remarkably soft and silken touch— 
of abundant hair and other indications of vigor—of 
most symmetrical form—great and equal width of 
back, well arched ribs, and prominence and width 
of bosom. Several of this tribe were exhibited at 
the Royal Agricultural Society’s Show at Leeds this 
year, and they were almost uniformly successful. 
Duchess 77, a three-year-old cow, which has carried 
off the first prize in her class whenever she has 
been showu, was first this year in the most remark¬ 
able class of cows that has probably been ever got 
together. Duchesses 78 and 79 (twins)—the one a 
roan and the other a white yearling heifer at the 
Canterbury Show last year—aud then placed first 
and second in their class—were here shown in a very 
lirst-ratc and numerous class of young cows, and 
they agaiu occupied the head of the list. Aud it 
is not only in the pure bred Duchesses that this ex¬ 
traordinary merit appears, but wherever a cross of 
the same blood has been given, it appears to have 
unusual influence, and most of the prize-taking and 
commended animals owe their successful position 
at Leeds to influence of this kind. This is one of 
the results of what is called in-and-in-breeding. Ani¬ 
mals which have inherited again and again in the 
course of their pedigree the qualities which rela¬ 
tionship in blood has conferred in common, possess 
those qualities much more energetically than others 
do in whom they are observed for the first time. 
A cross-bred ram may have a very desirable coat 
upon his back, and a very well-made carcase of mut¬ 
ton within that coat, but it is exactly a toss up 
whether his progeny acquire the character of his 
sire or that of his dam. If sire and dam for gen¬ 
erations back have exhibited constancy and uniformity 
of character , then that character is certain to re¬ 
appear in their offspnng, which in his or her turn 
will possess still greater power of transmitting good 
tendencies to the following generation. It is thus 
that not only in the Duchess blood, but in other 
tribes descended from the Kirkleavington herd, we 
have as the result of Mr. Bates’ resolution, patience, 
skill, and constancy, qualities which re-appear in 
generation after generation until an animal may now 
be safely characterised as good if known to be of 
Bates’ blood. Bates’ blood, or rather Bates’ brains — 
for it is mental, and, in many important particulars, 
the moral character of the breeder which is reflect¬ 
ed now in so many di£Terent herds—is merely 
another word for patient persistence in breeding 
from animals of a given type, in great measure dis¬ 
regarding the questiou of relationship, if they pos¬ 
sessed the requisite health and vigor of constitution. 
Of course, when evils of any kind arc inherited, as 
a tendency to disease or weakness of any kind, 
breeding in-and-in will intensify and hand that down 
with as much certainty as any other quality—but 
the natural law of breeding, which obtains among 
gregarious animals where the strongest sire is the 
father of the herd or flock—-to the almost entire 
disregard of previous natural relationship—is a safe 
one to follow. It is a natural law of this kind that 
gives to particular herds aud flocks where they have 
been long under the control of one man, their uni¬ 
formity of character from year to year. The thing 
is as true in flocks of sheep as it is in herds of cattle; 
and Mr. Jonas Webb’s flock of South Downs, which 
has just been scattered by the auctioneer to all 
lands, will no doubt perpetuate and extend the in¬ 
fluence of Mr. Jonas Webb’s skill and character just 
as widely as those of Thomas Bates are felt on both 
sides of the Atlantic at the present day.” 
-— -—--a® —-- —- 
Improving Plants of All Kinds—Im¬ 
portant Suggestions. 
A discovery recently brought before the British 
public, but scarcely heard of on this of the At¬ 
lantic, as yet, would seem to be of the highest 
importance to every cultivator of the soil—of a 
garden plot even. And as the experiments we 
propose can be made by every one, we ask the 
attention of all to the subject. In the preceding 
article we have given an outline of what has 
been done and may be done in the improvement 
of animals. The course pursued with animals, 
it is proposed to apply to the improvement of 
plants of all kinds grown from seed. 
To illustrate, let us look at the origin of our 
different varieties of peas, taking the Champion 
of England for example. Less than a dozen 
years ago, a single pod of remarkably good peas 
was found in a plot. The cultivator saved this 
pod and sowed the peas it contained. The re¬ 
sult was a small crop of peas resembling the 
original in general character and quality. The 
whole of the second crop was sown, and a third 
crop resembling the original was obtained. The 
process was continued, the whole crop being 
sown each year, and now the Champion of 
England pea is grown almost all over the world. 
But the general character of this variety is much 
the same as that of the second crop—probably 
inferior on the whole. There has been no spec¬ 
ial improvement made. 
Now suppose that from the second crop the 
cultivator had, after careful examination , selected 
the very best single pod that could be found, 
and planted this alone. Would not the third 
crop have been better on the whole, than that 
obtained from sowing all of the second crop, 
good, bad, and indifferent ? Suppose again, 
that from the third crop produced by the single 
pod selected from the second crop, the best 
single pod had been selected and sown, would 
not a still further improvement have been made ? 
The reader will note, that the proposed pro¬ 
cess is entirely different from the usual one 
adopted in producing or multiplying new vari¬ 
eties. In the latter case the whole product, or 
nearly the whole of the previous crop, is used 
in propagating and multiplying the variety. In 
the new process, it is proposed to select each year 
only a single head , pod , or seed—the best among the 
whole—to be used for propagation. The idea is, that 
not only will there be a decided improvement 
each year, but that this repeated annual selec¬ 
tion will establish a pedigree, or breed, that shall 
be as valuable in plants, as it is now in animals. 
Reason, and the laws of production would seem 
to be stronly in favor of this result. The Du¬ 
chess family of Short Horns have acquired the 
power of transmitting almost unfailingly the good 
qualities they have inherited. May not this 
power be similarly acquired by plants of all 
kinds, and that in a brief time. Three or four 
years are required for each generation of cattle, 
but in our field and garden crops propagated an- 
. nually from seed, only a single year is required 
for a generation. 
We propose to our readers that each one ex¬ 
periment in accordance with the above sugges¬ 
tions—in Spring upon field and garden crops, 
and in Autumn upon Winter grains. But little 
trouble will be required, while important results 
may be obtained. And, to illustrate what may 
be done, we will give an example of what has 
already been accomplished by Mr. B. F. Hallett, 
who is creating some sensation in England by 
his successful experiments upon wheat. Though 
we sent for some of his pedigree wheat, and gave 
it out to our subscribers, (see June Agriculturist , 
page 188,) yet, as we stated, we had some mis¬ 
givings about the claims put forth for it. But 
in the Gardeners’ Chronicle for August 24, the 
editor, the scientific Prof. Lindley, tells us he has 
seen Mr. Ilallett’s wheat in the field, and en¬ 
dorses the almost incredible statements put forth. 
The pith of the matter is this: 
Some years ago Mr. Hallett selected the two 
largest heads he could find in a field of a valued 
variety of wheat called the “ Red Nursery.” 
The two together contained 87 kernels. (One of 
these heads is the smallest one shown in our 
June number). The 87 kernels were planted 6 
inches apart each way. One of them produced 
10 stalks, the heads yielding 088 kernels. The 
largest ten other heads from the whole of the 
remaining 80 kernels sown, produced only 598 
kernels. The whole was planted separately, each 
kernel being numbered in the plot, and one 
grain from the largest of the first ten heads now 
yielded 17 heads (besides 5 green ones), which 
contained 1190 kernels. These 17 ears were 
planted and one kernel from the largest head 
among them yielded 39 heads containing 2145 
kernels. We omit the details of the experi¬ 
ments with the produce from the other products 
of the original grain. It is sufficient for our il¬ 
lustration to show the increase from the original 
size and number of stalks. The first year the 
best kernel sown yielded 10 ears containing GS8 
kernels; the fourth year the best kernel yielded 
39 heads containing 2145 kernels! One of these 
last heads was shown in our June number. A 
multitude of other experiments, carried on at the 
same time, showed a similar result from the suc¬ 
cessive repeated selection of the largest head 
from the most productive root or stalk, for prop¬ 
agation. 
Cotton Growing in the Colder States. 
We have recently had an interview with Capt. 
Richard Kendall, who was formerly connected 
with the United States Coast Survey, in refer¬ 
ence to the feasibility of introducing into the 
Middle and Northern States, a cotton producing 
tree which grows in similar latitudes in South 
America. Capt. K., is quite enthusiastic in the 
opinion that the tree will flourish wherever corn 
will grow, and that it may become a source of 
great profit. He exhibits specimens of the tree 
and of the cotton, produced by him in Balti¬ 
more County, Maryland. The section of the 
tree we examined is a hard wood, two inches in 
