80 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
WORKING AND THINKING. 
BY II. C. REYNOLDS. 
It is a well established fact that when the 
powers of the corporeal organization are 
expended, food, rest and sleep are requisite 
to impart the necessary energy for labor or 
thought; and it is also a fact, capable of 
clear demonstration, that the vitality thus 
imparted, or generated—so to speak—may 
be as rapidly consumed by mental as by phys¬ 
ical effort and labor. An individual contin¬ 
ually engaged in mental exercises will, al¬ 
most certainly, have a massive brain devel¬ 
oped, while one confined chiefly to physical 
labors will have a more powerful physical 
structure. The blacksmith has a large and 
muscular arm; the carrier, or constant 
walker, sinewy and powerful legs; the 
student a large brain. 
Far too little attention is given to the har¬ 
monious and proper development of our 
physical and mental organizations, or the 
laborer would be able to think more, and 
the thinker to labor more. The man of in¬ 
cessant physical toil, as a general rule, has 
little or no taste for mental exercises, and 
thinking, for him, is a far more onerous duty 
than ditching or digging ; while the philoso¬ 
pher will grapple with the most abstruse and 
intricate metaphysical disquisitions for six¬ 
teen of the twenty-four hours in each day, 
and yet not be able to saw or chop off a log, 
without almost utter exhaustion. 
Through whatever channel vitality is most 
expended, there will be the greatest tendency 
to development—even to undue proportions. 
Hence the man who labors only, without 
thought, must necessarily remain a laborer, 
because his capacity of intellect has been 
neglected until the avenues to it are almost 
closed. So little of nutriment is directed in 
that channel, that a sum in the rule of three 
would not only cause the exudation of a 
globular cataract from his cranium, but al¬ 
most entirely exhaust his energies for the 
whole day. 
The laborer, the farmer especially, labors 
too many hours before allowing time for the 
relaxation and diversion that otherwise would 
be afforded by mental exercise; and reading 
or study, without proper cultivation, is no 
relaxation at all, but really becomes a dread¬ 
ed task. “ Book knowledge ” is odious for 
lack of taste or development of intellect to 
relish or comprehend it. Reliance is placed 
only upon the strong arm, because the arm 
is more developed than the brain. 
School children who take violent exercise, 
in running jumping, or otherwise, can not 
learn so fast as those of more quiet habits ; 
but if. the exercise is not too violent, it will 
not unduly detract from their mental forces, 
but give a healthful tone to both their intel¬ 
lectual and physical structure. Discrimina¬ 
tion is more needed in the proper develop¬ 
ment of man as a thinking and laboring being, 
than is requisite in any other department of 
human affairs—not excepting the fattening 
of an ox or a hog. And when time can so 
be dispensed as to rightly diversify our pur¬ 
suits and studies, and the worker and think¬ 
er be combined in one person, new and use¬ 
ful inventions will rapidly increase -, the 
most approved mowers, reapers, sed-sowers, 
cultivators, plows, &c., be generally used ; 
all the fertilizing resources of the farm will 
be brought into requisition, and when ex¬ 
hausted, resort be made to those from a for¬ 
eign land, or even of an artificial nature ; an 
enlightened system of drainage, where requi¬ 
site, will be adopted without dubiousness as 
to whether it will “pay”; and increased 
competence and prosperity reign over the 
whole land—for reason will direct the arm, 
and not the arm direct the reason. 
U. S. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
The Fourth Annual Meeting of the United 
States Agricultural Society will be held at 
Washington, D. C., on Wednesday, January 
9, 1856. 
Business of importance will come before 
the meeting. Reports from its officers will 
be submitted, and a new election be made, in 
which it is desirable that every State and 
Territory should be represented. 
Lectures and interesting discussions are 
expected on subjects pertaining to the objects 
of the association, by distinguished scientific 
and practical agriculturists. The transac¬ 
tions of 1855, containing a full account of the 
late exhibition at Boston, will be distributed 
to such members as are present. 
The various Agricultural Societies of the 
country are respectfully requested to send 
delegates to this meeting; and all gentle¬ 
men who are interested in the welfare of 
American Agriculture, who would promote 
a more cordial spirit of intercouse between 
the different sections of our land, and who 
would elevate this most important pursuit to 
a position of greater usefulness and honor, 
are also invited to be present on this occa¬ 
sion. Marshall P. Wilder, Pres’t. 
W. S. King, Secretary. 
Editors are respectfully requested to 
notice the above in their journals.. 
Wintering Sheep. —The productive value 
of a sheep in spring, depends much on the 
care given it in winter. If it is exposed to 
the storm and half starved—if it “ still lives ” 
—the fleece will be inferior, and the whole 
summer be required to regain the condition 
to which it had attained the fall before. 
Sheep should be kept in good condition at 
ail seasons of the year. They should have 
the food and shelter necessary to their thrift 
and comfort—and then they will prove profit¬ 
able to their owners. It is a mistaken idea 
of economy and humanity, which treats 
these considerations with neglect. Let it 
not be forgotten that the storms of fall and 
early winter are often very trying to all ex¬ 
posed to them—often laying the foundation 
for serious losses to the wool grower. 
In many places, the present will be a sea¬ 
son of scanty fodder. To make the most of 
it, we must protect our domestic animals 
from the cold—we must study their wants, 
and the most economical means of supply¬ 
ing them. Cut grain, fruit, and roots, may 
be profitably employed. Good water, and a 
supply of salt should not be forgotten. The 
weak should be separated from the strong 
and given the best care, and it has ever been 
found that small flocks for a single enclosure 
succeed the best, whether wool or mutton is 
the object.—Wool Grower. 
WHY IS A THOROUGH BRED BETTER THAN 
A COMMON BREED P 
We have received a few queries from one 
who subscribes himself a “ Beginner,” and 
who wishes to know why a thorough bred 
animal, such as a thorough bred Durham, a 
thorough bred Hereford, or Jersey, or Devon, 
is any better than common cattle. If, says 
he, I have a common bred, say native cow, 
if you please, equally as large and equally as 
fat as a thorough bred Durham cow, why is 
she not as good, and why should she not com¬ 
mand as much money in the market as the 
thorough bred Durham, or Devon l If you 
wish to obtain merely the beef, hide and tal¬ 
low, to be sold in the shambles, perhaps the 
common bred cow may be worth as much as 
the other. Or if you want milk, or work, 
you may perhaps find some of the common 
bred valuable as the thorough bred; but here 
lies the difference—if you wish to breed from 
them, you are not sure of getting the like 
from the common bred, while you may be 
very certain of getting the like from the 
thorough bred. The thorough bred, of any 
breed, have had their peculiar characteristics 
fixed by a long and careful and thorough 
course of breeding, it may be for centuries, 
so that they are pretty sure to produce a 
progeny possessing the characteristics of 
their parents. Not so with the common 
bred. If you have one of them, for instance, 
that is very good for milk, there is no cer¬ 
tainty that her progeny will be good for milk. 
If you have one possessing a desirable color 
or form, you are not sure that its progeny 
will possess either; while with a thorough 
bred you are. Take a Hereford, for instance, 
with his solid, compact, mahogany colored 
body, and white face, and you may predict, 
with much certainty, that all their calves 
will possess the same distinctive character¬ 
istics ; so of Durhams, so of Devons, so of 
Jerseys. 
Hence, a thorough bred is more valuable 
than the common, not for its amount of beef, 
or bones, or hide, or tallow, but for the inher¬ 
ent capacity they have for producing Iheirlike 
to a great degree of certainty. 
But can not our common breeds be brought 
to this capacity ? Yes, if you have a genius 
for conducting the business of breeding ac- 
cording-to some model, or characteristic, and 
could live a hundred years, or could trans¬ 
mit your genius to some one that would con¬ 
tinue the experiment to that period of time, 
you could ; but since we have so many good 
breeds, that are thorough bred already to 
our hands, it would be wiser to adopt, them, 
than to commence experimenting for a new 
breed. There will be scope enough to exer¬ 
cise your talents in breeding, in keeping up 
the excellencies and characteristics of the 
breeds we have. They, being artificial, in¬ 
novations upon nature, would certainly de¬ 
teriorate and go back again in time, if great 
care was not taken to keep, them up.— 
Maine Farmer. 
