194 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
want of crossing, they appeared like so many invalids 
in the last stage of consumption. To improve any 
breed, or keep it up when improved, stock must be well 
fed from the time they are produced. “ Sir,” said a 
great breeder to me once, “to produce a fine animal, 
you must feed him from the starting-post.” Warmth, 
that is a temperate climate, appears to be perfectly ne¬ 
cessary to the improvement of all animals, and particu¬ 
larly so in live stock connected with agriculture; for, if 
we look at these animals, or even the human species, 
whether in the frigid or in the torrid zone, we find them 
dwindling into Liliputian size. 
I come now to the grand point; to prove which, I 
conceive it will be necessary to fix upon some marks 
whereby a change, and that change an improvement, 
may be traced. The one, which in my mind is by far 
the strongest, is colour; next, I would place smallness 
of the head and ears; in the horse, ox, and sheep, pro¬ 
minence of the eye ; in all wideness of the chest, tenden¬ 
cy to fatten, early maturity, tranquillity, and love to 
man, or rather dependance on man. 
Let us now proceed regularly, and commence with 
the horse, as the most noble as well as the most useful 
animal. The influence that the male has on this class 
of animals is the most striking. Every one must recol¬ 
lect how, in blood-horses, the colour of the sire goes 
throughout the progeny, and, in a dealer’s stable, every 
grey is a Delphini or a Sir Harry Dinsdale, every black 
a Sorcerer or a Thunderbolt, and so on. While you 
hear people constantly remark that such a horse can be 
nothing but a get of such a one—what is this but to say, 
the colour and appearance of the male goes throughout 
the produce ? In work-horses it is the same. Avery 
strong instance of this was visible some years ago in the 
county of Kincardine. Here there was not, I suppose, 
one single mare to be found of a chesnut colour, when 
Mr. Barclay, of Ury, brought down a Suffolk punch, of 
a bright red chesnut colour, and in a few years plenty 
of chesnuts were to be found. A few years afterwards, 
a dun or slate-coloured stallion gained the prize from 
the Kincardine Agricultural Association : when he 
came into the country, dun horses were very rare, now 
they are to be found everywhere. In the county of Fife, 
some years ago, a horse called Sportsman, found his 
way from Yorkshire, and covered a vast number of 
mares, particularly those belonging to the farmers, 
which at that time were either black or grey. This 
horse was a rich dark brown, with a tanned muzzle, 
and he instantly made a very large proportion of horses 
of that favorite colour; and what is still more remarka¬ 
ble, he was himself one of the best trotters ever seen, 
and his progeny were so also, so that the farmers talk¬ 
ing of a good trotter, would say, “ O yes, he is a Sports¬ 
man.” Sir Robert Dick, a few years ago, purchased a 
work-mare, which I happened to know the breed of for 
several generations. She was black, very large, and 
coarse; eyes small, head and ears large, and very rough 
at the heels. This mare was put to Caleb Quotem, a 
beautiful bay horse, with much of what dealers call gaie¬ 
ty. I saw the produce; it was bright bay, with no hair 
at the heels, the eyes large, the head and ears small, 
and altogether the produce had put on the appearance 
of a blood-horse. Here the dam was of the cart breed. 
Let us look the other way: Mr. George Harley Drum¬ 
mond had two or three thorough-bred mares, which had 
thrown foals, small in size and deficient in bone to a 
blood-horse. He put them to a cart-horse, they instantly 
produced stout boned colts, with much hair at heel, and 
altogether like the sire. In the year 1821, I purchased 
a very neat small mare for a relation of mine, which had 
a foal at her foot by a cart-horse; this foal turned out 
to all intents a very good cart-horse. The mare was af¬ 
terwards put for three seasons to Kutuzof, and the foals 
were in all appearance like blood-horses. 
The late General Ayton, of Inchdairnie, a great many 
years ago, sent down a horse from England to his pro¬ 
perty in Fife, which covered the country mares in his 
vicinity (at that time, [ am informed, very poor beasts,) 
and produced such wonderful effects on the breed in 
that neighborhood, as maybe seen this very day; the 
horses in that quarter being the best in the country, and 
particularly remarkable for width of chest, docility in 
work, and altogether fine animals. Last year (1824) 
I chanced to see the tenantry of a gentleman, who has 
the district which lies along the banks of the river Avon, 
in Aberdeenshire, driving his winter store of coals. 
The horses struck me as being far above the common 
run of those in the Highland glens, and in fact first rate, 
compared with what ten years before I had seen in the 
carts of the self-same farmers. I was at first somewhat 
at a loss to find out how so great a change had taken 
place, as I knew that the land in that part of the county 
was all held by small farmers, who neither could nor 
would purchase large high priced mares to breed from, 
far less those horses then in my view. I soon found, on 
investigating the matter, that the whole change had 
been brought about by good stallions ; and in this way: 
The different agricultural associations in the north have, 
for many years, been in the practice of offering large 
premiums for stallions, which brought troops of fine 
horses from the west of Scotland. After the best had 
been picked out for the prize, the rest were set adrift; 
and these horses, dispersed over the country, of late 
years, from the badness of the times and an overstock 
of them, covered at any price the farmer pleased to 
offer. Thus good horses wandered into their glen, to 
their very doors, and at such a price as these men could 
give; the result was yrhat I have stated. 
In the horse, then, it seems clear that it is to the male 
we must look for improvement. Not that I would be 
supposed to assert that the whole improvement can be 
brought about at once by the male; that, if a man were 
to put a Shetland pony to Eclipse—such a one, for exam¬ 
ple, as “'The Great Unknown” has been pleased to 
mount Mr. Yellowlees on—were the little beast, from 
which the agriculturists’ legs dangled, put, I say, to 
Eclipse, no one would hope to procure a racer; nor 
can we think that a Lincolnshire black, and a High¬ 
land garron, taken out of a peat cart, will produce an 
animal fit for a London dray; but by repetition the end 
will be produced. I once put the question of the High¬ 
land Society to a very able man who fills a chair in one 
of our universities, and who is an observer of nature of 
no ordinary cast, and who also, from his profession, (a 
medical man,) may be supposed to be a good judge. 
His answer instantly was, “ The male, without all doubt, 
but (added he) you must have a female capable ot de¬ 
veloping the good properties of the male, otherwise a 
good male will be thrown away.” 
(Remainder in our next.) 
On the best means of permanently improving the 
class of Clay Soils. 
[From (he Fanners’ Magazine.'] 
There is no doubt but thin clay soils could be easily 
improved, and perhaps in a much greater degree than 
the sandy soils have been during the last 40 years; 
and the surface may yet be seen clothed with a rich her¬ 
bage which shall vie with that of the other soils in pro¬ 
ducing the best cheese, beef, and mutton. 
Clay soils, will produce pasture just in proportion to 
the quantity of decaying active vegetable matter in their 
composition. If this be abundant, the crop will be rich 
and luxuriant; and the decaying fibrous roots will form 
a dry, porous soil, giving a sufficient depth for the rain 
to sink through the subsoil, where it will run off by the 
furrow drains. If there be little vegetable matter in the 
soil, the moisture will make the earthy matter in it col¬ 
lapse and adhere together ; and it will form a cold, wet, 
sterile clay, producing little else but carnation grass of 
little value. 
Pasture on clay soils should never be converted into 
arable culture, unless the application of skill and capi¬ 
tal will not only repay the additional expense of the 
culture, but also tend to increase the permanent pro¬ 
ductiveness of the soil. Without a proper application 
of skill, capital and industry on such land, the convert¬ 
ing it into arable culture will only tend to diminish the 
produce, if the free produce under the artificial culture 
fall short of that which nature itself afforded. 
Much may be learned from the practice of market 
gardeners, in the neighborhood of London and else¬ 
where. They have two methods of trenching their land 
When the soil and subsoil are good to a great depth, 
they turn the surface under and fetch up a fresh spit 
from below to constitute the surface for so many years; 
but when the subsoil is poor or strong clay, they bas- 
tardtrencli it, as they call it; that is, they throw the 
surface spit forward, always keeping it uppermost, and 
dig the subsoil by turning it over in the trench without 
moving it from its place. 
Their object in thus trenching their clay soils is to 
get depth for the rain-water to decend, and to give a 
greater depth of moisture to the roots of plants in dry 
weather, and for the superabundant moisture in wet 
weather to decend below the roots of plants, and run off' 
to the drain. 
If we perfectly drain thin clay soil by furrow drain¬ 
ing, and deepen the subsoil by trenching with the spade 
or the subsoil plough, making it pervious to the mois¬ 
ture which falls on it, that it may immediately sink to a 
depth below the reach of the roots of the plants, the cul¬ 
tivated surface will be dry; and if we reduce the tenaci¬ 
ty of the soil by applying to it those light or sandy sub¬ 
stances, which, when well incorporated with it, will 
make and keep the soil permanently porous and friable, 
then the land which before produced only a poor crop 
of carnation grass, or if arable, of oats, will now pro¬ 
duce an abundant crop of wheat, beans, oats, clover, 
and even turnips; and if properly laid down, and full 
of manure, will form a rich pasturage for any kind of 
stock. - 
When clay soils have dry pervious subsoils, they be¬ 
come darker in colour from the repeated application of 
manures, and under a proper system of cultivation they 
lose their adhesiveness, and become a loamy soil, pro¬ 
ducing the most fruitful crops of wheat, beans, clover, 
vetches, cabbage, and naturally produce the best and 
richest herbage for dairy cows. The milk from cows 
fed on such pasture produces more cheese and butter 
than the milk of cows fed on a sandy soil, and of a bel¬ 
ter quality. 
Any thing which will produce permanent friability 
in clay soils, such as sand, lime, burnt clay, loose light 
vegetable matter, or long unfermented manure, will al¬ 
ter its texture and improve its quality. 
When tenacious soils are completely subsoil drained, 
and a system of deep or subsoil ploughing is adopted, 
every time when the land is in summer fallow, if the 
soil be deepened and the subsoil made more porous; and 
if never ploughed when too wet, and a full portion of 
vegetable manure be given to the soil, and well mixed 
with it, a mechanical effect will be produced, which will 
change the nature and texture of the soil, and give to it 
that friability which is so essential in all productive 
soils. The rain that falls on it will now percolate 
through it to the depth of the new formed subsoil, and 
thence to the furrow drains. 
The soil now receives the circulation of the air, which 
is carried on by the rains filling up the interstices which 
the air previously occupied, and the complete drainage 
draws off all the superabundant water as it falls. By 
this operation the earth again receives a fresh supply of 
air from the atmosphere, which promotes a chemical as 
well as mechanical action in the soil, and hastens the 
decomposition of the air and water, as well as the vege¬ 
table and animal manure it contains, and thus a liberal 
supply of the nourishment necessary for the growth of 
plants is obtained. 
Soil that is principally composed of calcareous matter, 
in minute divisions, becomes a most tenacious stubborn 
soil; and, under certain circumstances, as sterile as the 
most worthless clay. Calcareous matter, therefore, al¬ 
though reckoned a valuable constituent in a soil, be¬ 
comes an evil when it composes the greater part of it. 
Calcareous clay, when thoroughly dried, fails to 
pieces like burnt lime, whenever it is again wetted.—- 
Every poor clay soil may be much improved by paring 
and burning the surface, after it has been completely 
drained. 
This is the first step that ought to be taken towards 
ameliorating such a soil, and the more clayey the soil 
is, the deeper ought the soil to be burnt. When the 
burnt surface is mixed with the soil to the depth of the 
furrow, it acts as a coarse sand, and makes it more fri¬ 
able and porous, by converting the matter, which was be¬ 
fore damp and adhesive, into a dry, friable, warm soil, 
permanently improved and capable of producing luxu¬ 
riant crops of every kind. 
If we can get depth and friability to the subsoil of 
strong adhesive clay we thereby prevent stagnant water 
from injuring the roots, and give to the plants the liber¬ 
ty of sending these roots to a greater depth in search of 
nourishment. 
In all rich soils, there is vegetable matter in every 
state of decay, and the greater this poi-tion of decaying 
vegetable matter is in strong clay soils, the greater is 
its productive powers. Besides this, decomposing ve¬ 
getable matter will tend to keep strong clay land loose, 
friable, and porous. 
Cash Book. 
[From the Farmers’ Cabinet.] 
A little care prevents much cost and trouble. 
It is a very easy and simple affair to keep a cash 
book, and yet how very few farmers do it. Any person 
who can write can keep a book of this description, and 
many advantages accrue from it. On one page of your 
cash book set down every thing sold, and the sum re¬ 
ceived for it. On the other side put down all your out¬ 
goings or expenditures; and when it is begun, if the 
amount of cash on hand is put at the top of the column 
of receipts, at any time by adding up the two pages, and 
taking the difference of them, will show the balance of 
cash you should have in hand; and if there is any disa¬ 
greement, there must be some error of entry, or there 
must be “ a hole in the purse.” A book of this kind ac¬ 
curately kept, would show at the end of the year, or at 
any other time, the amount of wheat, corn, potatoes, 
butter, poultry, eggs, or any other articles sold and the 
sum received for them. It would do more, it would 
show all your outlayings for stock, seeds, implements of 
husbandry, repairs, clothing, tea, coffee, sugar, salt, See. 
See. and also for wmges, and would present a very curi¬ 
ous and interesting document for family examination at 
the end of a twelve month ; and if there should be found 
to be “a hole in the purse,” it would indicate the spot 
where repairs were most necessary. 
A farmer keeping a book of entries of this descrip¬ 
tion, would always know his latitude and longitude, as 
a captain of a ship does when on the ocean, and he 
would be less likely to run on to shoals, or get among 
the breakers. As it is not very usual among farmers to 
take recepts when money is paid on ordinary occasions, 
and not in very large sums, and as the memories of ma¬ 
ny people are very frail, such a book of entries as has 
been referred to, would be of essential service as a re¬ 
cord of payment when no other evidence of it existed, 
and might prevent litigation and trouble in case of the 
decease of one or both of the parties. On the death of 
the head of a family who has kept no regular records of 
his receipts and payments, much difficulty and some¬ 
times heavy losses have occurred, besides a great deal 
of trouble and anxiety to those who were obliged to 
giope in the dark in settling his estate. 
It is well known that very many worthy intelligent 
farmers are careful to preserve an accurate statement 
of all their worldly concerns, duly arranged in proper 
form, and such rarely find “ a hole in the purse.” 
But there are many others who would at once plead 
guilty, or, if they did not, could readily be convicted on 
responsible testimony, of totally neglecting to keep any 
intelligible series of entries in a book, of their ingoings 
and outgoings, and these are the persons who often 
complain of “ a hole in the purse,” and yet they are not 
careful to have it repaired in due season. 
_ ABRAHA M. 
System of Culture. 
In every system, it is absolutely necessary to at¬ 
tend to the equal distribution of labor throughout the 
year ; so that the work which the system requires to 
be performed in each month may be easily accomplish¬ 
ed by the means the farmer is provided with. The 
different operations should never be allowed to en¬ 
croach on each other. If these are properly adjusted, 
the business of each week will be confined to the time 
in which it is required to be performed. 
The best mode of cultivating arable land is that 
