Mature 
fj r&G R1C U L T U Rr 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-EOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1864 
MOOEE’S KUEAL NEW-YOEEEE, 
AN ORiarNAL WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
which ought to be devoted to repose. Not un- 
frequently is the animal so tired that he is un¬ 
able to properly chew hLs food; he. therefore, 
bolts the oats, a large proportion of which passes 
unchanged through his body. Those who de¬ 
sire to render fully effective the motive power 
of the horse, must pay attention to the mechan¬ 
ical state as well as to the quality and quantity 
of his food. The force expended by the horse 
in comminuting his food—when it is composed 
of hay, straw and oats—may be set down as at 
least equal to the power he expends iu one hour 
and a half of work, such, for example, as plow¬ 
ing. The preparation of his food, by means of 
steam or water power, or even by animal mo¬ 
tive power, would economise, by at least one- 
half, the labor expended in its mastication; this 
would be equivalent to half a day's work in ev¬ 
ery week—a clear gain to the animal's owner. 
It has been objected to the use of bruised oats, 
that they produce a laxative effect upon the an¬ 
imals, but this disadvantage may be obviated by 
the addition of cut straw to his food/’ 
eleventh contained in his work, “Sheep Hus¬ 
bandry in the South.’’ If he has changed his 
opinion, will he not show us how to obtain 
those advantages he claims, instead of caution¬ 
ing us against it, or, in other words, show us 
how we may reap to our profit with those edged 
tools. 
Trusting that you will publish this, 
I am, Sir, Yours truly, 
R. H. Saunders. 
Pecatonica, IU., Ang. 8th, 1844. 
Remarks on the Above. — Mr. Saunders 
is entirely right in supposing that “Mr. Ran¬ 
dall was not an advocate for in-and-in breeding 
lor general purposes,” when, sixteen years ago, 
he wrote “ Sheep Husbandry in the South. ” 
Nor is he now. We believe that in the hands 
of the adept, it is the surest road to important 
and permanent improvements — that in the 
hands of the ignorant or unskillful, it is the 
readiest course to degeneracy and decay. But 
perhaps we think the needle’s eye through 
which the in-and-in breeder must pass, to attain 
success, is larger than we thought it sixteen 
years ago. During that comparatively brief 
period, a great and most auspicious revolution 
has been completed* in the character of the 
fine wooled sheep of the United States. For 
the purpose of meeting our own national wants, 
at least, the first class American Merino of to-day 
is a doubly valuable animal to the first class Me¬ 
rino of tweuty years ago—and it far excels the 
Merino of any other part of the world. And 
these highly improved animals, Mr. Saunders, 
are as “ free from disease ” — are as “ prolific ”— 
and do not require as much “weeding out,” as 
the common stock of Merinos, in the hands of 
those farmers who consider it all important to 
obtain an “unrelated" ram for their flocks as 
often as once in two years. Yet this transcend- 
ant improvement has been wrought by the 
closest of in-and-in breeding! There are some 
highly improved flocks in which occasional 
crosses have been admitted; but in these, the 
crossing has been the exception and the in-and-in 
breeding the rule. This is the case with the 
improved Paulars. And where such occasinal 
crosses have been made, it has not been done so 
far as we know, to obtain the benefit of new 
blood per se. The constitution of the Paulars 
did not require it. Their characteristic hardi¬ 
ness remained unimpaired. They were first 
crossed for the purpose of making an improve¬ 
ment in their wool. They were next crossed to 
obtain some of the choice qualities of the im¬ 
proved Infantado — a thoroughly in-and-in bred 
sheep. There are no frequently crossed flocks 
of Merinos in the United States which compare 
with either of the preceding in established fea¬ 
tures of excellence. The nearest approaches to 
them are flocks which have been crossed up — 
we might say graded up — to excellence, by bor¬ 
rowing their blood. Their owners have im- 
CONDUCTED BY D. D, T, MOORE. 
CM,VKI.ES ». BRAGDON, AMOctate Editor. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS.-Mr. Randall’S addres* is 
Cortland Villa#*, Cortland Co., N. T. All communica¬ 
tions ttuontJen for tilts Department, and all Inquiries 
relating to sheep, should be addressed to hirq as above. 
HENRY S. RANDALL, LL. D., 
Editor Department of Sheep Husbandry. 
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS* 
P. BARRY, C. DEWEY, LL. D., 
H. T. BROOKS, L. B. LANGWORTHY, 
IN-AND-IN BREEDING. 
Mr. H. S. Randall 
Bear Sir: I trust 
you will excuse my pertinacity in addressing 
you again on the subject of in-and-in breeding: 
for having once committed myself before your 
readers, I can not allow yonr remarks to pass 
unnoticed. 
In my letter contained in the Rural of 
March 5th, I stated that farmers who intend to 
make the raising of wool and mutton, or butter, 
cheese and beef, their business, would not suc¬ 
ceed as well by dose breeding as by the judicious 
crossing of families or animals of different blood, 
but nowhere in this letter did I state that close 
breeding was not necessary to those who make 
the raising of tliorough-breds their specialty. 
Breeders of thorough-bred stock generally make 
their profits from the sale of animals for stock 
purposes, therefore make every effort to pro¬ 
duce excellent specimens of their kind, which 
they often dispose of at high figures. But if all 
breeders should raise thorough-bred- and believe 
in in-and-in breeding, they would find no pur¬ 
chasers for stock animals. Therefore, the ques¬ 
tion to those who do not raise thorough-breds 
for sale, is, Which are the most profitable, 
thorough - breds. 
Thk Rural New-Yorkeji la designed to be unsur¬ 
passed In Value, Purity, and Variety of Contents, and 
unique and bcantlfnl In Appearance. Its Conductor 
devotes Ids personal attention to tlie supervision of its 
various departments, and earnestly labors to render 
the Rural an eminently Reliable Guide on all the 
Important Practical, Scientific and other Subjects Inti¬ 
mately connected with the business of those whose 
Interests It zealously advocates. As a Partly Journal 
I t Is eminently Instructive and Entertaining—hetng so 
eonduoted that It can he safely taken to Die Homes of 
people of intelligence, taste ami discrimination. It 
embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural, Scientific, 
Educational, Literary and News Matter, Interspersed 
with appropriate Engravings, tlma any other Journal,— 
rendering It the most complete Agricultural Lite¬ 
rary and FAMILY’ >’ KWtSPAi'ju? tu America. 
-A LURitKbrON dent who has never prac¬ 
ticed cutting up corn wants to know “ when it 
should be done—w hen is the time to commence ?” 
Well, that is uu important question. And there 
are many farmer- who do not seem to have dis¬ 
covered its importance, for they invariably wait 
until the frost bus killed alt the foliage, though 
the frost does not come until long after the corn 
is mature. And then they set diligently to 
work to cut and shock up the frosted stalks—for 
what earthly good wo never could divine! 
With hay at present prices, this question of 
corn cutting is an important one. Hay $20 to 
$22 per tun in this market at this writing! We 
pray you, good fanner, have a vigilant eye to 
the corn fodder—let it aid your turnip and other 
root crops, in eking out the hay, in enabling you 
to dispose of it, if necessary, in order to invest 
in Government Bonds in support of Law and 
Order. As soon as the corn is fairly glazed, 
corn cutting should commence—even though 
frost be several weeks delayed in his arrival— 
the longer he stays away the better. We are 
CURRENT TOPICS DISCUSSED. 
Camelina sativa, 
Alonzo Hendrick writes:—“ I send you, 
herewith, some yellow seed or false flax, is it 
worth anything in market, i have often heard 
it said it was worth as much as flax seed for oil: 
but whether it is like tory burrs in wool, I do 
not know'. One man said he had made much 
money by them, because they brought as much 
as the wool. 1 do not know the botanical name 
of this plant, but it will probably produce ten 
seeds to one of flax. Will a screen to separate 
flax from all other seeds, be an invention that 
will pay 1’’ 
This plant is CameUna sativa— Gold-of-pleas- 
ure. It is cultivated in Europe—is a common 
crop there in many localities —for its seed, 
which is manufactured into eil. The oil is 
sweet, and said to bo eatable, when fresh, but is 
apt to become raucid. It burns well and freezes 
with difficulty. This crop is sown in the Spring, 
but may ho deferred till .June in countries Lav¬ 
ing a warm, dry autumn. Morton says:— 
Three mouths ripen it in such districts. It is 
sown broadcast at the rate of about four pounds 
per acre, and is harvested when the seed pods 
begin to turn y ellow. If loo ripe, it is apt to 
shell. It is said to prefer good wheat laud; but 
it is found to pay on the Continent, on inferior, 
sandy soils. In England, the crop is averaged 
at from three to four quarters per acre, and sells 
for forty shillings per quarter. 
Feeding Horses, 
There is perhaps no class of animals belong¬ 
ing to the farmer more systematically ami gen¬ 
erally abused by feeding, than horses. It is not 
wanton abuse, not willful, but thoughtless dig. 
regard of physiological laws. Go to church in 
the country, where you will have a good op¬ 
portunity to watch the farm horses as they draw 
iuthe church-going farmers and their families. 
Tell us how many round-barrelled, dean-bodied, 
natural-shaped horses you can count f You can¬ 
not fiud five per cent, that are not out of shape 
witli bodies more resembling a cow than a horse, 
carrying around a w eight of paunch which tells 
its own tale of gross, Inconsiderate feeding. 
And these animals, right from the plow, are 
driven, in many eases, as if they were of the 
three-miuute ” breed 1 What wonder that 
’hey wheeze! They are aliow’ed to stand at a 
cresses, or grades ? The 
thorough-bred horse is a noble animal, but a 
cross with some other breed is more useful. 
Although thorougb-bred cattle have been fed to 
monstrous proportions under certain circum¬ 
stances, crosses and grades often beat them 
under ordinary circumstances for beef, and 
commonly excel them for the dairy. The Cots- 
wold is a heavier sheep than the South Down, but 
a cross of the two will produce a heavier sheep 
at two or three years old than a full blooded 
Cots wold. Practical farmers in England have 
been aware of these facts many years, and sel¬ 
dom breed thorough-breds, unless to sell for 
stock purposes. 
I can not agree with you in what you consider 
to be be facts in defense of in-and-in breeding. 
On the contrary, as far as my know lege extends, 
nature seems to provide a preventive. There 
appears something more than moral considera- 
led and cared for the first year, they will pre¬ 
dict what kind of a horse he will make. 
Just so soou as a colt is weaned, he should 
have a few haudfuls of good oats, bruised, per 
day. a few pounds of eutstraw, and a fewpounds 
of hay cut. All else that he procures iu the 
pasture will fill up the gap iu his stomach 
(which occurs between meals.) and he will not 
over distend that organ, nor his intestines, sim¬ 
ply because the wants or nature have to a great 
extent been satisfied, or rather provided for, by 
feeding the articles just alluded to. Some per¬ 
sons uiav object to feeding colts in a generous 
manner, on account of the expense; but if good 
fodder makes strong, vigorous and healthy colts, 
and such colts make valuable horses, then I 
think that such investment must pay welL Fi¬ 
nally, the principal eflect produced on ihe grow¬ 
ing animal by au insuiHeient nutrition, i>, to 
hinder his best development. Therefore, 1 say 
don't stint the colts. 
Applying Manures. 
Mu. Patten, of Hightstown, N. Y., in¬ 
forms the Country Gentleman that one-third of 
a field in strips received au autumn dressing of 
manure at the rate of about 12 or 15 loads per 
acre. A 2d portion was manured in the spring 
with an equal quantity, and a 3d was dressed 
with guano, at the rate of 300 pounds per acre. 
The crop ou the fall-manured part was about 
three times as good as on that mauured in the 
spring. ’1 he guano gave an intermediate result. 
The 2d year guano was applied over the whole, 
and the 3d year the growth on the autumn- 
manured portion was decidedly the best; the 2d 
best was ou that which was guanoed the first 
year; and the poorest of all was on the spring- 
manured portion. 
neuuer win utero oe ewes which refuse to own 
their lambs, nor will sheep decline <*trry off an 
unlimited number, or any other disease which is 
produced by constitutional debility, 
1 believe, and think I am correct in stating, 
that Mr. You att Is considered to be the best 
writer on sheep in England, and Mr. Randall 
the best in the United States. Mr. You att 
believes in close breeding to produce uniformity, 
but always admits that a stimulus in the form of 
a little foreign blood infuses a tone and vigor 
among sheep. I supposed that Mr. Randall 
was not an advocate for in-and-in breeding for 
general purposes, judging from letter the 
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