s 
23 
JAN. M 
supply any reader who wishes it so far as I 
can spare it. Thomas Childs, 
Box 298, Hudson, N. Y. 
HOW THEY DID IT. 
T. H. HOSKINS, M.D. 
The Formation of the Ayrshire Breed. 
America has produced, one new breed of 
sheep, and two or three breeils of swine. She 
has accidentally produced two breeds of hor¬ 
ses, oue of which has, accidentally also, be¬ 
come extinct, and the other is apparently on 
the way to the same end. In the Vermont 
Merino Sheep, the Magie, Chester White aud 
Jersey Red swine, the Narragansett Pacers and 
the Morgans are summed up all that Ameri¬ 
can agriculture can claim in the direction of 
such improvement. (Perhaps I ought not to 
forget the Plymouth Rock fowls.) [How 
about the Improved Kentucky sheep, the 
Jamestown Pulled cattle, and the Victoria 
swine?— Eds.] 
But we are now rapidly approaching that 
state of permanency in our surroundings 
which makes it possible for the needed time to 
be given to purposed improvement of spe¬ 
cies requiring more time than sheep a ad pigs 
to repeat their generations. There are young 
men now starting out in life with good farms 
and well equipped minds who will feel within 
them the ambition and purpose to accomplish, 
something notable ami beneficial, that shall 
give them an honorable plaoe in the future 
history of American agriculture. To such it 
I have heard it said that this yam grew 
very deep in the ground, bur. what did I care ? 
The soil was a light sand; I had a long-bun¬ 
dled spade; 1 felt smart, so took o!T my coat, 
spit on my hands, and at it 1 went. 1 first 
pulled olf the vine, which was wound fifty 
times around a six-foot stake, looking for all 
the world like a homoipathio haystack, except 
that the branches were reaclnug away for un- 
other stake half a rod*off. From this vino 
rattled off half a million little tubers—the 
seeds which nature provides for its propaga¬ 
tion. I then began to dig down by the side of 
the subterraueau tuber; 1 cut off side roots, 
some of w hich 1 pulled out to the length of 18 
to 24 inches; and still I felt the main stem 
running down perpendicularly. I persevered 
and dug down very carefully on all sides, but 
still found no yam. 1 took a rest aud cooled 
off, enlarged my hole aud put myself into it, 
but finding a lack of elbow-room, 1 got u gar¬ 
den trowel and within my bole dug a hole of 
smaller dimensions. At last 1 was rewarded 
by a sight of my treasure, and persevering till 
I found the tuber diminishing in diameter, I 
gave a strong pull, aud out it came, leaving a 
tap-root of uncertain length still in the 
ground; aud there 1 had the real yam, leaving 
a hole to be filled up of the depth of from two- 
aud-a-hal£ to six feet—l didn’t measure it. We 
appointed the next day for a family feast on 
this highly prized Chinese Yam, yclept Diosco- 
rea Batatas. Well, we had the feast, but 
we hud to liuveuu addendum of something that 
hail a taste to it. Grand-son said it was 
much like fresh cod-fish or boiled rice, not 
very objectionable, but, so far us satisfying 
the appetite, you might as well sit at the table 
aud chew the uir. 1 shall dig no more Chi¬ 
nese Yams, but if you admire beautiful climb¬ 
ing plants this will fill the bill, aud probably 
you cau dwarf it to suitable dimensions for 
indoor adornment. Vieillard. 
-» ♦ ♦- 
Panicum Agrostoides. 
We do not find that much is known con¬ 
cerning this grass except that cattle eat it. 
The panicle is not unlike that of Rod Top (Ag- 
rostis vulgaris). The stem grows to about 
three or four feet in hight and is somewhat 
ashes keep better in barrels, as when throw'n 
in the earth they absorb moisture, 
Monroe Co., N. Y. Chas. A. Green. 
BOOK FARMING. 
As the Rural came from the post office 
last Saturday and was lying unopened, a 
neighbor came in to do some business with me. 
He was a “ well-to-do ” farmer, had cleared 
up a farm for himself and was about clearing 
up oue for each of his two sons, while he was 
laying up money for old age. Business done, 
I took up the Rural and asked, “ W hat agri¬ 
cultural paper do you take P’ Well, he didn’t 
take any, he toon a political and commercial 
paper that had an agricultural department. 
He *‘ didn’t believe much in book forming.” 
1 assented so far as to say that the man 
that depended entirely on books and papers for 
his guidance in farming or who believed all 
that he read, would make some bad blunders 
ami that judgment in connection with read¬ 
ing was necessary. We parted the best of 
friends. 
Then I opened the Rural and read on page 
828 vol. 40 about those big crops of corn. I 
believed before in the selection of the fittest 
as well as " the survival of the fittest” or I 
might have suspected that there was some 
mistake in measurement. Had he not been 
beyond cull I would have called him back to 
read a case of genuine book farming and to 
see to what kind of farming he would have 
given the credit of raising one hundred and 
thirty bushels of shelled corn to the acre. 
Muskegon, Mich. S. B. Beck. 
Improving a Poor Ohio Farm- 
In 1859 I bought a small farm of 55 acres 
which was badly run down. It was difficult 
for me to get from 12 to 15 bushels of wheat 
per acre; but by saving all my manure aud 
carefully applying it 1 have raised, for the 
past six years, 33 bushels per acre on au aver¬ 
age. My maimer of rotation is: break the 
sod; plant to corn; follow wi tli oats. I apply 
all my manure on the stubble and plow it 
under at least eight inches; then roll and har¬ 
row, and drag and narrow and roll anil drill 
at least three inches deep, aud seed to Timo¬ 
thy aud clover, four quarts of each, in March. 
I seldom fail to get a good catch. Keep to 
grass three years. Be sure to save all your 
farm manure aud you will need no artificial 
fertilizers. Ford. 
Lucas Co., Ohio. 
flattened; leaves long, sheaths smooth and 
spikelets crowded and one-sided. It develops 
flower panicles from several of the joints as 
well as from the apex. In the report of the 
botanist to the Department of Agriculture 
we are informed that this grass grows com- 
SPIKELET OF PANICUM AGROSTOIDES.—FIG. 11. 
monly in large clumps in wet meadows or on 
the muddy margins of rivers and lakes. It 
makes fair hay if cut before flowering time, 
but if left later the stalks become too wiry for 
fodder. 
Sorghum Seeds for Postage. 
Some weeks since I reported my success in 
ripening a lot of seeds of the Rural Branch¬ 
ing Sorghum, and stated that I did not know 
what to do with the seed. As my letter was 
published with my address, it is bringing me 
applicants in various forms. A few send me 
postal cards, others inclose a stamp when I 
have to put two stamps on the seed. Others 
again, inclose me nothing aud want me to 
write them long letters: how much I charge, 
how to grow the seed, etc.; of course, these 
get no response. A few inclose three and 
more stamps, aud these get seed. But, like the 
Rural, I have no seed for sale, but will send 
DIGGING A CHINESE YAM. 
the seed as long as it holds out, to those only 
who are willing to pay postage in advance. 
Columbia, Pa. J. B. Garber. 
-- 
R. B. S. Seeds. 
I succeeded iu raising abundance of ripe 
Rural Branching Sorghum seed, and could 
may be useful to understand how good breeds 
are made, and fortunately we have on record 
the entire history of the production of a 
highly improved and valuable breed, begun 
upon the basis of common stock nowise better 
than the common stock of American cattle. 
This record is found in a little work printed 
in the Scottish capital in 1825, entitled “ A 
panicum agrostoides.—fig. 12. 
Treatise on the Dairy Breed of Cows, and 
Daii*y Husbandry, by William Alton, Esq.” 
Mr. Alton well says, in a preliminary para¬ 
graph, “The means by which that breed 
has been formed, from one of the worst to 
the most valuable in (Scotland, is interesting, 
as it shows the great pliability of the animal 
economy, aud holds out encouragement for 
improving every species of live-stock. If such 
alterations have been made on that breed 
within living memory, what may not be fur¬ 
ther effected now that the flexibility of 
annual economy and the general principles 
of breeding begin to be much better under¬ 
stood.” 
Here we see it distinctly affirmed, and it is 
repeated iu otner parts of the book, that 
the original stock of the Ayrshire cuttle were 
among the worst in SuotluuiL Yet within the 
memory of men then li v uig they had been so ( 
improved as to be “unequaled by' any other in 
tieotiaud, aud not excelled by any in England.’ 
Within the last half century, since the publica¬ 
tion of -Mr. Alton’s treatise, such further iui- 
provemeut has been effected in this stock that, 
tor general dairy purposes, it is admitted to be 
superior to any other breed whatever, unless 
the Dutch cattle be excepted. That England 
has nothing equal to liiem for the dairy is 
shown by the great demand for these cows 
iu the best dairy districts of that country. 
Scotland has also lately brought forward a 
beef breod, the Polled .Tugus, the history of 
which runs quite parallel with that of the 
Ayrshire. And even 55 years ago, according 
to Mr, Alton, colonies of Ayrshire cattle had 
been carried from Ayrshire to every county 
of g Britain from Caithness to Kent, and several 
thousands from Ayrshire into England in a 
single year. 
Mr. Aitou says of the origin of the Ayr shir e 
cow: “The dairy breed of cowsiu Ayrshire 
now so greatly esteemed, are not an ancient 
or indigenous race, but are a breed begun to 
be formed within the last 49, and chiefly with¬ 
in the last 20 years. Only dining the preseut 
generation was any improvement begun to be 
made, and it is only within the last 20 years, or 
thereby, that that improvement has merited 
notice. Till after the year 1780 they were a 
puny, misshapely and inferior breed of cattle. 
If in so short a time, from such a beginning 
the Ayrshire cow was produced, how long 
would it take New York, for iustauce, to pro¬ 
duce, in Herkimer, or some other dairy 
county, a cow every way the equal of the 
Ayrshire; without the Ayrshire’s short teats, 
to which Harris Lewis so comically objects, 
aud which have certaiuly stood in the way of 
the general spread of the breed in Vermont 
and Canada l Be it remembered that the 
Ayrshire district, as to soil aud natural value 
as a grazing country, is very much inferior 
to the average dairy farms of America. 
How was this great change effected ? Let 
Air. Aiton, born and bred in the midst of 
them, at the very time that this change was 
in progress, tell us. “ These cows were of 
diminutive size, ill-fed, ill-shaped, and yielded 
but a scauty return in milk. Their horns 
were high and crooked, having deep ringlets 
at the root, the plainest proof that the cattle 
were but scantily fed aud but few of them 
yielded more thau six or eight quarts of milk 
per day, when iu their best plight, A wonder¬ 
ful change has since l>eeu made, a change into 
something as different from what they were 
as any two breeds cau be from each other. 
They are almost double the size, and yield 
about four times the quantity of milk. These 
alterations, although they are extensive, have 
not been made by replacing them with a 
different breed , but the changes have been 
effected upon the former breed, partly by 
skillful breeding, and still more by better 
feeding and treatment 
I have italicised the above clauses, because 
the process is one that auy farmer can resort 
to aud follow successfully, without any long, 
non-paying expenditure—with little expendi¬ 
ture, iu fact, but the expenditure of thought¬ 
ful care aud labor. So true is this that Mr. 
Aitou is compelled to say—“Though these 
improvements in the dairy stock of Ayrshire 
were beguu aud brought to their present ad¬ 
vanced state within the recollection of thous¬ 
ands who are still alive; and though I kept a 
dairy stock for some time in the center of the 
district when these improvements were first 
introduced, and about the time they begun to 
be improved, 1 have not been able to trace 
the commencement of them to any particular 
person or family.” 
It seems, then, that this wonderful change 
must have been chiefly, if not entirely, the 
consequence ol’ a general advance in the art 
of husbandry throughout the district, where¬ 
by better and more abundant feed was pro¬ 
duced, greater care was given to stock, and 
move intelligence generally applied in their 
improvement. In short, better farming by 
better fanners made better cattle. Now wha 
hinders just such an advance in New York, 
in Vermont, in Iowa, or in any American 
dairying community? Is it anything moru 
than the American lack of stability an 
