ON BREEDING.-NO. 2. 
211 
THE WHORTLEBERRY AND OTHER TREES AT . 
THE SOUTH. 
In the number of the Agriculturist for the cur¬ 
rent month, p. 155, you say; “We would be obliged 
if any of our southern friends would inform us 
whether the whortleberry, (vaccinium,) is found at 
the south except among the mountains.” It is 
found abundantly in the forests in a large portion 
of Louisiana and Mississippi. We have no moun¬ 
tains properly so called in these states. The whor¬ 
tleberry, however, is most abundant in the more 
hilly or broken parts of the country even though 
the hills are of very little elevation. Two species 
of the vaccinium are native and now growing in 
my yard. 
I have also about my house an insulated forest 
of about ten acres in w T hich are several hundred 
trees embracing more than sixty species of native 
growth. Besides these, I have planted many other 
natives of our forests as well as exotics. Among 
the natives, in my little forest, are seven species of 
oak, the sycamore, magnolia, beech, holly, maple, 
ash, pine, tulip tree, cotton veood, sassafras, red mul¬ 
berry, red, slippery, and winged elms, black walnut, 
two species of hickory nut. chincapin, iron wood, 
horn beam, black or blue gum, tupelo, sweet gum, 
dogwood, hopea, virgilia, wild cherry. &c. On 
other lands, I have many other native forest trees 
of which I intend to remove specimens to my resi¬ 
dence. Having established a school for young 
ladies in this grove, I have given it the name of 
“Newton Place.” 
In this grove, are some magnificent forest trees, 
far surpassing in size, beauty, and grandeur, any¬ 
thing I have seen in your northern climate. W e 
have here, also, a number of native vines growing 
luxuriantly; among them, two species of grape 
and the far-famed muscadine, the yellow jessamine, 
trumpet creeper, ratan, (Zizyphus volubilis,) cornu¬ 
copia, &c., &c. Of the most highly-prized exotics 
is one purchased of you, over two years ago; 
namely, the Paulownia imperials. 
D. L. Phares. 
Whitesville, Miss., May 14 th, 1849. 
ON BREEDING,—No.2. 
The race horse, certainly the noblest creature 
the world has seen, is now said by some English 
writers to be degenerating, and it is proposed to go 
back and begin all over again, by breeding from 
new importations of the hardy Arabian. 
The same it is feared will occur with the improv¬ 
ed shorthorns. Yet the question will very natur¬ 
ally be asked, how is it that the wild cattle of 
Chillingham Park have been preserved unmixed for 
so many hundred years I The most obvious and 
readiest reply is, that they have been left in a wild 
state, that nature has had uncontrolled authority in 
their preservation and continuance, without the in¬ 
terference of man, to improve, or alter, or modify. 
But if their owners through all this range of years, 
had at any time been enthusiastic in the breeding 
of cattle, or had filled themselves with a conceit, 
that they possessed the means for improvement, 
there is little doubt that not one of them would be 
alive at this time. Another reason for their being 
still preserved, is, that animals in a wild state, gen¬ 
erally, if not invariably, destroy all the feeble or 
sickly, or else they die in a more kindly manner, 
by being left to perish through inability to procure 
food, or in other words, that in a perfectly natural 
state, none but the hardy and vigorous animal can 
live. But where animals, no matter how strong or 
hardy originally, are bred with a certain object, as 
the race horse, for speed, the one kind of cattle for 
the butcher, another for the dairy, they inevitably 
run out. They become an artificial creature, and 
can only be preserved by unnatural means, all of 
which, after a certain time fail, and the whole breed 
so made up, gradually but certainly disappears. 
Breeding in-and-in, then, as a system, cannot be 
indefinitely continued. A breeder up to a certain 
point, may, by adopting it, produce the most supe¬ 
rior, even the most perfect animals. By its means, 
Bakewell gave to England the longhorns, the 
most beautiful animals of their day, and Colling 
the more beautiful shorthorns. But after a time, 
it becomes a mere moving in a circle, you intro¬ 
duce by it, all the finest points, you remove by it 
every imperfection, the breeder gains through it the 
object he had in view, but by persisting in it, you 
return to your stock, all the infirmities, and imper¬ 
fections of which you had rid yourself, and bring 
back constitutional delicacy and disease. 
A good deal in the art of breeding, even if we 
give full credit to the judgment, experience, and 
penetration of man, is still due to fortune. In all 
our estimates of human skill and power, we must 
not forget this. No human being, however re¬ 
markable in talent or energy, has gone through or 
completely succeeded in any undertaking, without 
feeling and acknowledging its strong and happy 
assistance. In this particular act, it happens that 
two extraordinary instances of its intervention and 
its aid, stand most prominent. It is said that there 
is not in England, at this present day, nor probably 
in this country, a single race horse of any charac¬ 
ter, which is not descended from theGodolphin Ara¬ 
bian. From the most authentic accounts of this 
animal, it is probable, and is now generally conced¬ 
ed that he w T as not an Arabian, but a Barb; alscr 
that he was never intended for breeding purposes, 
but kept as ateazer to a race horse of much celeb¬ 
rity, called Hobgoblin, and that his being made the 
sire of generations of noble animals was accidental, 
the mere trick of a stud groom. Nor was he even 
a handsome horse, or possessing such points as 
fitted him for the high duties of a breeder of race 
horses, at least, this was the opinion of his owner, 
and probably of other judges of that day. Yet as 
an evidence of how erroneous and imperfect man’s 
judgment may be, though aided by long experience, 
this rejected brute has done more for the improve¬ 
ment of the horse, than the most anxious and ni¬ 
cest exercise of tact and skill has ever, or could ever 
have done. 
The bull. Hubback, the reputed founder of the 
shorthorns, was discovered accidentally, by Col¬ 
ling, and though his name is not so noted, nor the 
part he has played so important as that of the 
Godolphin Arabian, yet, in usefulness, there is no 
comparison. The splendid results and the fiery 
passions, engaged in horse racing, overbear, in the 
eye of the world, the gentle, unostentatious, and 
modest utility of animals known and admired 
chiefly by the agriculturists ; but in the career and 
progress of nations, if it were asked which added 
the most to their productive wealth, which aided 
