ROCHESTER N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK' ENDEVG SATURDAY. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
HENRY S. RANDALL, LL. D. t 
Editor of the Department of Sheep Husbandrv 
intercourse among the lower orders of animals. 
What an argument we have here against polyga¬ 
my and the harem, with its one puny child, the 
pet of all the childless about it. 
In addition to these laws there are certain in¬ 
fluences exerted by the sexes upon each other 
which affect very considerably the process of 
reproduction. These influences are social. In 
this country the aseociatian of men and women 
is so circumscribed by social custom that no 
cheerful, and constant, and familiar intercourse 
is established between them in all the walks and 
business of life. In consequence of this the 
physical condition of woman sutFers material]} - , 
and her power of reproduction is very consider¬ 
ably reduced. There are certain diseases incident 
to her mode of life here which are unknown in 
Europe. A shy and morbid condition of the 
mind acts seriously upon the body; and He 
urged more familiar intercourse here, in the 
Held, and market-place, and shop, and in all 
the walks of life —an intercourse conducive to 
health, not only from the exercise it affords, but 
also from the mental and nervous vigor, which it 
imparts. Professor Agassiz urged very strongly 
the association of the two sexes in our schools 
and public institutions as one step toward 
that heightened and virtuous intercouse which 
strengthens the body at the same time that it 
enlarges and purifies the mind. 
The Professor dwelt on the importance of 
governing ourselves by the locality in which we 
reside In choosing the breed of cattle for the 
farm. He was well aware that a breed would in 
the end conform to the locality In which it was 
placed, and was sure that, under this rule, a 
proper breed could be created for each place; and 
he spoke of the effect of limestone soils in devel- 
ciuita icazers lor marts and ewes. He con- 
sidered it Impossible to irritate a mare by a low¬ 
bred horse, without damaging her value as a 
breeder to the better horse which is intended 
for her. And he hoped that sheep breed¬ 
ers would take the same advice, and not leave 
the impression of a misshapen bnck of poor 
quality upon ewes which were expected to‘he 
coupled with a valuable ram. He was satisfied 
that this practice must be abandoned before the 
desired uniformity of fleece and carcass can be 
arrived at. 
He felt authorized to speak somewhat from 
experience, and he would v-ay that in establish¬ 
ing his family of Ayrshire*, he had first settled 
in his own mind what kind of animal he wished 
to arrive at: and, having done this, he had not 
gone beyond his own herd for males —but had 
continued to breed in-and-in with good success. 
There wa3 an uniformity about his animalsj 
which he could reach in no other way. Not 
that they were a standard for any other breeder 
or were superior to all others; hut they have 
arrived at the mark which he had laid down for 
Himself. 
SPECIAL CONTIUBUTOB8i 
F. BARRY, C. DEWEY, LL. D., 
H. T. BROOKS, L. B. LANGWORTHY, 
T. C. PETER8, EDWARD WEB8TEK, 
Tub Rural Nkw-Tobkbb la designed to he unaur- 
pssaed la Value. Purity, and Variety of Contents, and 
unique and beautiful in Appearance. Its Conductor 
devotes lilx pergonal attention to the supervision of Its 
various departments, and earnestly labors to render the 
Buka.l an eminently Reliable Guide on aH the Important 
Practical, Scienftflc and other Subjects Intimately 
connected with the business of those whose interests It 
zealously advocates. As a Family Journal ft ts eml- 
nently Instructive and Entertalnlii.e-hetn* so conducted 
that, it can be safely taken to the Home* of people of 
mtellieence, taste and discrimination. It embraces more 
Horticultural. 8clentlflo, Educational, Literary and News 
Matter, interspersed with appropriate Engravings, than 
any other journal.-reudertnz it far the most complete 
agricultural. Litrkary and Family Nrwspaprr in 
America. 
tW~ t or Terms and other particulars, see last pave. 
BELOW. 
POTATOES-CULTURE 
THE LAWS OF REPRODUCTION, 
Prof. Agassiz 
1va - 3 recently called upon to 
talk upon this subject, at the meeting of the 
Stale Board of Agriculture of Massachusetts. 
Hie remarks, and those of Dr. Losing which 
foUow, possess a grave interest to all persons 
engaged In the breeding of animals. They 
should be well considered and analyzed by our 
readers. He said careful experiments had taught 
Him that in some orders of animals very extra¬ 
ordinary laws govern the process of fecundation. 
It is not until it reaches the age of seven years 
that the commou tnrtle, for Instance, begins to 
creed, or rather actually reproduces its specks 
The connection between the two sexes begins at 
, years ofa S e ' aiul repeated yearlv until the 
kmale arrives at her seventh year. Not until 
thi, time however, does she lay eggs; and then 
the ovaries contain eggs of various sizes, as if 
they had been Impregnated at the various peri¬ 
ods of connection. * 
Tn come now to the higher orders of animals. 
mM«'' I the or connec ‘i° n with the he would add the Importance^" 
male, the ovaries receive an impression, and ova * 
become impregnated, even beyond those which 
rdon^ Jr *i r °l 1 . Kht ,nt ° eXl6tt ' DCe ’ and tha( this I of transmitting 
*v at ‘ ‘ l L nae the first connection; go breeding, the cl 
that ova may remain in the ovaries, in an im- 
; ,0nditi0D ‘ aad simply brought into 
carenf n DCe ’ rC6igned by the to the 
nectlon by thC means of futQr * con- 
n«t,on with the male. A Newfoundland bitch 
ha been coupled with a water-dog, and the 
Y ug presented a great variety-some like the 
™ «’,r e ?' '«»«. some a tail* 
L ~ ° f *’ < " h ' Th <- «™>« bitch, 
duZ Tr 7 r C0Qpled wltb a greyhound, pro- 
Id wkhnore! P n 8 VC ' r " nearly 1Jkc the former, 
inmSi T m * tace 10 lhc Abound. And 
had lift th* tS LC Eam ° w#y wilh ^bbits. he 
female sostrongly" Jhtd'in'fiT° * WWt * 
the ova of thf larier h ‘ mp ^ 18ted 
former that the i by C0nnecti °n with the 
upon tb . UtUre eff0rt8 ^ a black male 
hut rab hu:. fCmale had -thing 
USCd Vantage 
by . m Z Uti °" ° fthe lawa indicated 
y mem could produce nothing bat uncertainty 
Ti c J t .„ rec0RnucJ (bm 
knowic”lTthct; PCT r‘" W poi!resl, « 
Dosses* 1 V the aws ° f rc P rot lucUon than are 
of a\vi i d US> and ,boy P roy lde that children 
“rr'. hC Mt « * ““»«S 
c tali. t„ , 1,0 propert, of tllc Urtt hu , bMl) 
«... modern times, may learn much lrora 
de , th rt ^ urd to the perpetuation and healthy 
dtu oprnent of society, as well as the. CIZ 
evident tw Rairu [ llfl for 8 P eciflc purposes. It j 8 
with t a a rcl ‘ abl e race cannot be estahlluhoj 
"Uthont careful 
‘he outset, tmd| 
fercncewith the 
ourselves, as wo 
transmitting oui 
ties unimpaired 
fr °ui nature, w 
I Henry Thorp of Charlotte, Vt, writes us 
(.March, 1S65: ) — My ewe Kate, (represented in 
the accompanying cut,) was bred by Victor 
V bight of Mlddlebury from his pure Infantado 
stock. She is three years old, and her two last 
fleeces have weighed respectively 1 : 2 ^ an q jo 
pounds. My flock numbers thirty-seven breed¬ 
ing ewes, all pure Infentados, and most of them 
purchased of Victor Wright within the last 
ihree years but a few of them of Henry W 
Hammond of Muldlebury. My sheep average 
not far from ton pounds of wool per head _a 
little over for the last two seasons, all being 
ewes but one. My flock being small and well 
cared for, shear heavy fleeces. 
often have we seem a well-bred heifer made Inca¬ 
pable of transmitting her qualities bv early con¬ 
nection with an inferior and Ill-bred bull. So 
true is this, that he had always impressed it 
upon the farmers, and had set it forth in a report 
on cattle breeding prepared for the board, that a 
female should be selected which had never bred, 
if the breeder would hope to arrive at any defi¬ 
nite conclusion, and that the bull selected should 
be as near the desired typo as possible. To this 
-- — p confining our- 
selves to the family from which wo have selected 
Our herd, as nearly ns possible, for the purpose 
STAGGERS IN SHEEP, 
■ Lentemlle, Mich., submits “in behalf 
of himself and others," the following questions: 
W hat are the causes of blind-staggers in sheep, 
if known, and are their any remedies for the 
malady in any of its stages?" Hydatid in the 
brain, properly called in England, turnsick, 
sturdy, staggers, &c., is occasioned by a watery 
bladder, somestimes as large as a hen’s ego- im . 
bedded in or lying upon the brain, and itTpres- 
sure causes the symptoms which are to some 
extent indicated by the popular name of the 
malady. These are described folly in the Prac¬ 
tical Shepherd, p. 277, as are also the barba¬ 
rous and absurd remedies resorted to in England 
and Scotland. This disease is substantially in¬ 
curable, in most cases, at least in ordinary hands; 
though il the skull softens enough over the hy¬ 
datid to indicate its position, as it is said some¬ 
times to do, the latter might perhaps be safely 
removed, even by persons ignorant of «ur^erv 
by the simple and summary French processes' 
dors prudent. Iu the case of fleshy, strong sheep, 
we have also advised the administration of Ep 
som salts, say two br three ounces to a full 
grown English sheep—an ounce and a half to 
two ounces to a full growu Merino, and about 
half the same quantity to tegs. This should 
be repeated iu half doses at the end of six 
Honrs if copious evacuation has not taken 
place, Iu short, we have treated the ease pre¬ 
cisely as we would treat apoplexy. 
We feel bound to 
often failed, but it has iu 
;ay that this treatment has 
many cases succeed- 
nqston speaks of daggers as existing in | ed > within ‘he comparatively limited sphere of 
r Wa0Ml Therefore, while we 
■Opoeiiton irom European writers on itie b Y 110 means recommend it as a cure-all we 
n idcr * '*"»* **»• 
■r iu terms .viiioh seem to implv some flocks a*e attacked by this fatal malady. We 
Tr eI hV, e ? n'“ di ° g fr ° m ““ '*» Sire 
two or the?e iUe shet*p recovered, There re ‘ ,e fi but let all understand that In many 
p ™' ,ably . most “"■> 'to«»prove 
l with all respect tocliis honeetatid ad sumexent. The most effective way is to bleed 
t on Sheep, vve mav he permuted to add from the jugular vein 
ptums he irivva of His three cases, must ,, , . . 
per-ons/ii«i/. : i<;r with stag,]',-a that they biydatid in the brain, says Mr. Yofatt, gen- 
ymptoms of that disease. erally attacks English sheep when they are 
To Test Seed.-THc* vitality of seeds may bt 
tested by putting into a tin pan a thin green sod, 
grass uppermost. On this, place a quantity oi 
sod, with the grass side down. Moisten the 
whole with hot water, keep near a stove, and in 
a short time the seeds will show whether 
acetates of another breed, which will injure 
tlie c ' tTtaluty of breeding. We must learn to 
associate ourselves in this business as in all oth- 
