74 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
But, after a while, with a considerable degree of cer¬ 
tainty in a small flock, and too frequently in a larger 
one, the sheep \vill continue to arrive early at maturity, 
and to fatten as kindly as before, or even more so, but 
they evidently are decreasing a little, and yet only a lit¬ 
tle, in size. They do not bear the severity of the wea¬ 
ther quite so well, and perhaps they are somewhat more 
subject to disease The farmer will do well to take 
warning. He has been breeding too long from close af¬ 
finities; and he must introduce a little different and yet 
congenial blood. He must select a ram from a soil, and 
kind of food, not dissimilar to his own, although at a 
distance perhaps as great as convenience will permit— 
with points as much resembling his own sheep as may be 
—quite as good as those in his own flock—superior if pos¬ 
sible in some points, and inferior in none, and he must 
dismiss his own ram for one year, and make use of the 
stranger. His purpose will be completely answered. 
He will have infused a tone and vigor among his sheep 
—they keep their propensity to fatten, and they re-ac- 
quire that health and hardiness which they used to ex¬ 
hibit, and the farmer is enabled to go on satisfactorily for 
a certain number of years; when experience will tell 
him that a stimulus, in the form of a little foreign 
blood, is again wanted. Thus is illustrated that axiom 
with regard to all our domesticated animals—“selection 
with judicious and cautious admixture, is the true se¬ 
cret of forming and improving a breed.” The errors to 
be avoided are, too long continued and obstinate adhe¬ 
rence to one breed; and, on the other hand, and even 
more dangerous, violent crosses, in which there is little 
similarity between the soil, the pasture or the points 
and qualities of the animals that are brought toge¬ 
ther.* 
The ewe is sufficiently matured for breeding at fifteen 
or eighteen months. The old farmers did not employ 
them for this purpose, until after the second shearing; 
but the improvement in the breed, which develops so 
soon a disposition to fatten, and prepares them so much 
earlier for the market, hastens also the development ol 
the generative powers in the sheep. 
The ewes and rams being kept in different pastures, 
the farmer can select his own time for bringing them 
together, and consequently, the time for yeaning; and 
that will depend on various circumstances. Where 
there is a demand for house-lambs, or the farmer adopts 
the rearing of such lambs as a part of his system of 
management, the period of yeaning should commence 
as early as September or October, in order that in No¬ 
vember and December the lambs may be ready lor the 
market, and, at which time they will obtain a good re¬ 
munerating price. 
In the general course of breeding, however, it is de¬ 
sirable that the lambs should not fall until the cold of 
winter is over, and the pasture begins to afford some 
food for the little ones. This is peculiarly important in 
bleak and exposed situations. Thousands of lambs die 
every year from the cold to which they are exposed as 
soon as they are yeaned. On the other hand, there 
may be some inconvenience and danger if the period of 
lambing is too late. Hot weather is as fatal to the mo¬ 
ther as cold is to the offspring. It frequently induces a 
dangerous state of fever; and both the mother and the 
lamb maybe then injured by the luxuriance of the grass. 
If the lamb falls late in the season, it will be longer 
ere the ewe can be got ready for the butcher, and the 
ground cleared for other stock—and, in addition to this, 
the early lambs become larger and stronger and better 
able to resist the cold of the succeeding winter. The 
yeaning time will, therefore, be regulated by the situa¬ 
tion of the farm, the nature of the pasture, and the de¬ 
mand from the neighboring markets. It will seldom, 
however, commence before the middle of March, or be 
postponed beyond the middle of April. 
The duration of pregnancy is about five months, or 
152 days, and that with comparatively trifling deviation.f 
The time for putting the ram with the ewes will there¬ 
fore be from the middle of October, to that of Novem¬ 
ber. No preparation is necessary, except, for a few 
weeks previously, to place the ewes on somewhat bet¬ 
ter pasture than usual. Before the ram is admitted, the 
farmer should always fold and examine the ewes, first 
as to their possessing that form and appearance that 
are likely to perpetuat - the breed which he is desirous 
to possess, and secondly, to ascertain whether they are 
in good health, the proof of which will be the white¬ 
ness and firmness of their teeth, the sweetness of their 
breath—the brightness of the eye and of the counte¬ 
nance, the degreee of fat which they carry, and the 
firmness with which the wool adheres to the pelt. Every 
inferior or diseased ewe should be separated from the 
rest, and prepared, as speedily as may be, for the 
butcher. 
In consequence of the new system of breeding and 
management, the ram will be sufficiently matured at 
the same age as the ewe; but it will not, perhaps, be 
prudent to allow him so many ewes as would be placed 
with one of greater age. The number should be some¬ 
* See Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, Sept. 1836, p. 250. 
Low’s Elements of Agriculture, p. 492, and Dickson’s Prac¬ 
tical Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 639. 
f M. Tessier presented a valuable memoir to the Royal 
Academy of Science in Paris, containing his observations on 
the period of pregnancy of almost every domestic animal — 
Out of 912 ewes, the shortest period was 146 days, and the 
longest 161, being a difference of 15 days; but more than 
three parts of them yeaned between the 150th and 154ih day 
after impregnation; bringing the average as nearly as possi¬ 
ble to 152 days, or five calendar months, or twenty-one weeks 
and five days 
what regulated by the apparent health and strength of 
the animal, and the pasture from which he comes.— 
Forty or fifty ewes may be allowed to the sheerling, 
and seventy or eighty to the older ram. 
Native Stock vs. Durham. 
[From the Yankee Farmer .] 
Mr. Editor —I observed in the Farmer of Jan. 5, an 
article upon the superior value of the Durham breed of 
cattle. It is there stated that a farmer can afford to 
give five hundred dollars for a full blood Durham bull, 
and the calculation is carried out to show how quickly, 
easily and certainly he will get his pay hack. 
I affirm that we have no need to go abroad for stock 
for our farms. The only secret is in managing well the 
stock that we have. Take the best Durham breed, or 
any other that can be produced, and let our farmers 
treat them as they have heretofore treated our native 
cattle, hogs and sheep, and in a few generations they 
will be as poor and mean. The whole art in having 
good stock of any kind, is to select, from year to year, 
the best for breeders. 
The present goodness of our native stock, considering 
how it has been uniformly treated from year to year, 
by the owner, is ample proof of its real goodness. The 
only thing wanted is constant and proper selection and 
proper keeping, and our stock would soon be equal to 
any. As long as our farmers will continue to sell off 
cows thfft are worth one hundred dollars and keep those 
that are hardly worth five, we may never expect to see 
a fine breed of cattle. The farmers may import what 
breed they please, and pay as high prices as they please, 
it will be all the samething in the end, until they learn 
to manage better. The rules for selecting for good 
stock are principally these—deep wide shoulders, wide 
and deep hips, short and straight back bones, round 
bodies and well ribbed back, short shin bones, short 
strong necks, small short heads, and small pointed no¬ 
ses. If these rules were observed from generation to 
generation, by our farmers, the meanest breed of cattle 
that were ever seen would soon become first rate. Just so 
with your hogs and sheep. A very large creature, of 
any kind, is not so profitable to the farmer, as a good, 
middling size. The main thing is shape. And no farm¬ 
er should ever sell at any price, his best and finest 
shaped animals, if he intends to keep up a good and 
profitable kind. A gentleman told me lately that he 
began farming about twenty years ago. He then took 
a good deal of pains to find and purchase a superior 
kind of sheep. He could find none on an average bet¬ 
ter than his own, which were mean. He adopted the 
practice of selecting his best lambs every year, for stock. 
In a few years he had the first rate sheep. The same 
course will produce the same effects in every kind of 
animal. 
Instead of paying five hundred dollars for a Durham 
bull, let any farmer lay out that sum in extra keeping 
and care of his present stock, and select his best calves 
every year for stock, at the end of five years he will 
be better off. I do not deny the notion of purchasing a 
superior quality of stock, when it can be done, at a fair 
reasonable price, but only the notion of running into 
such great extravagance of prices. A little care and 
patience will serve our farmers a much better purpose, 
and, in the end give them full as good and profitable a 
stock. PHILO. 
Portland, January 8, 1839. 
Animal Nutrition. 
[From the Genesee Farmer ] 
Until within a very few years, little attention seems to 
have been paid to the subject of animal nutrition; the- 
quantity or kind of food most suitable for this purpose 
was mostly overlooked, and if life was supported, no 
questions were asked as to the why and the wherefore. 
So long as the population of the old world remained few 
in number compared with the acres from which subsis¬ 
tence was to be drawn, there was indeed little use in in¬ 
quiries of this kind; then, as now in the United States, 
or this continent generally, a supply of food of some 
kind was usually certain. Now and then years of fa¬ 
mine in particular sections might occur;—for in those 
times, when the means of intercourse were so limited, 
the inhabitants of one country might be starving, while 
those at a distance of a few hundred miles were rioting 
in abundance; but they were soon forgotten in the suc¬ 
ceeding plenty, and led to no valuable investigations 
as to the nature of food or nutrition. The population 
fared more nearly alike in former limes than at present, 
so far as food was concerned; it was bulky and hearty, 
and if it produced disease, it was of a different kind 
from that which now assails the modern omniverous 
eater and drinker, and in all cases was decidedly the 
same. In these days, the differences in mankind made 
by rank or wealth, are scarcely more deeply marked 
than those observable between the diseases of the rich 
and the poor; a difference in the main to be attributed to 
the nature of their diet, and its effects on the animal 
system. 
Among the inquiries into the effect of different kinds 
of food or animal nutrition, Dr. Stark, of Vienna, ap¬ 
pears to have taken the lead; indeed he seems to have 
fallen a marter to his zeal in the cause of science, pe¬ 
rishing, as he undoubtedly did, from the results of his 
long continued experiments on himself. By confining 
himself to food of a particular kind for a considerable 
space of time, he was able to ascertain its actual effect 
on the organs of digestion, and its value as a source of 
nourishment. Bread, meat and milk, each in its turn, 
for a considerable period, was his sole nutriment; and 
Hie result showed that these things, certainly among 
the most nutritive of substances, could not maintain the 
vigor of the body, or even life itself, but for a limited 
time. In this respect man differs from the majority of 
animals; his organization is such as to admit aqd even 
require a variety of food, while many animals are by a 
law of their natures confined to a particular kind of 
food, as flesh or vegetables. 
The French physiologists, Magendie and his coadju¬ 
tors, followed up the experiments of Stark, not on them¬ 
selves, but on animals, and found they could not long 
survive on food, however nutritious in itself, unless they 
receive a large portion of that on which they naturally 
subsist. Thus a dog fed on white sugar and water 
alone, soon became emaciated, lost its appetite and sight 
and perished. Few substances can be more nutritive 
than sugar, but it lacked the power of properly distend¬ 
ing the stomach, and exciting its digestive energies,-— 
Dogs fed on pure wheat bread and water lived but little 
longer; and rabbits, which eat a variety of vegetables, 
such as clover, cabbage, barley, corn and carrots, were 
unable to live for any time confined to one of these. 
It was found that animals, when much emaciated and 
reduced by one kind of food, were not often restored by 
another, though they frequently partook of it with 
greediness—the tone of the stomach could not be re¬ 
gained. 
To facilitate proper digestion of food by the animal 
or man, it is necessary that with the nutritive part, sub¬ 
stances more bulky, or containing little nutritive power, 
should at the same time be taken as food. An experi¬ 
ment has been made in England on the feeding of hors¬ 
es, which demonstrates this fact most conclusively.— 
Some cavalry horses were selected, and while one part 
of them received sugar and water alone, the other part 
had a few pounds of cut straw added to their portion of 
sugar and drink. Those which received the sugar alone 
fell away rapidly, while those fed with the sugar and 
straw throve as perceptibly; and a repetition of the ex¬ 
periment on another set of animals, showed the same 
result. In man the rich and high seasoned food, the 
fine flour and the fat meat, are to the stomach what pure 
wheat or sugar would be to the stomach of the horse.' 
There is much nutriment, but little that can facilitate 
digestion. A man swallows nourishment enouah for 
half a dozen, but instead of its producing a good effect, 
his stomach becomes disordered, its functions debilitat¬ 
ed, and in the midst of plenty he becomes dyspeptic, 
and incapable of enjoying any thing. The man who 
lives on common food, sound and sufficiently nutritious, 
is rarely troubled with the evils that press so heavily on 
him who, regardless of the law of nature, takes more 
nutriment and less substance than is consistent with a 
healthy tone of the digestive powers. 
Perhaps the best estimate of the time required for 
the digestion ot the various substances used as food by 
man, and their general effect on the animal organiza¬ 
tion, is given in the book of Dr. Beaumont, from expe¬ 
riments made on the living subject, and under circum¬ 
stances more favorable to correctness than are known to 
have ever before existed. We give below a table of the 
results obtained by him, not as a mere matter of curio¬ 
sity, but as furnishing information of the most valuable 
kind in connection with animal nutrition. The first 
column indicates the substances taken into the stomach; 
the last the time required for its digestion. 
hour. min. 
Boiled rice,. 1 00 
Sago, tapioca, barley and boiled milk,.. 2 15 
Tripe and piss’feet,. 1 00 
Fowls, beef’s liver.., 2 30 
Hard eggs,. .... ^.3 30 
Soft eggs,.... 3 00 
Custard,...2 45 
Trout, boiled or fried,. 1 30 
Other fresh fish,. 3 00 
Beef, rare, roasted,. 3 00 
Beef’ dry, roasted, .. 3 30 
Salt beef with mustard,...2 30 
Pickled pork,.4 30 
Raw pork, .. 3 00 
Mutton, fresh,. 3 15 
Veal,.4 00 
Wheat bread, fresh baked,..3 30 
Corn bread,. 3 15 
Spongecake,. 2 30 
Succalash,......3 45 
Apple dumpling, . 3 00 
Apples, sour and mellow,.2 00 
Apples, sweet and mellow,.... 1 30 
Parsnips, boiled,. 2 30 
Potatoes, boiled,....3 30 
Potatoes, roasted,. 2 30 
Raw cabbage,....2 30 
Raw, with vinegar,. 2 00 
Cabbage boiled,. 4 30 
Dr. Beaumont found that the envelop of the seeds in 
the apple and the skins of potatoes were scarcely acted 
upon by the gastric juice, and consequently indigestible. 
As a whole, it would seem that animal aliments are di¬ 
gested easier than vegetable ones; but his experiments 
show conclusively, that whatever the kind of food, the 
ultimate principle of nutrition, or the chyle, is the same 
in all cases. 
Digestion is much facilitated by the particles of food 
being made fine when taken into the stomach, and the 
quantity of nutritive matter furnished is greater. In¬ 
dividuals, therefore, in whom the digestive powers are 
