16 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Science of Agriculiui e. 
ALL KNOWLEDGE IS FOUNDED ON EPPERIENCE. 
In the infancy ul any art experience is confined and knowledge 
limited to a tew particulars ; but as arts arc improved and extended, 
a gveat number of facts become known, and the generalization of 
these, or the arrangement of them according to some legal principle, 
constitutes lhe theory, science, or law of an art. 
Agriculture, in common with other arts, may be practised without 
any Knowledge of its theory ; that is established practises may be 
imitated ; but in this place it must ever remain stationary The mere 
routine practitioner cannot advance beyond the limits of his own 
particular experience, and car/ neither derive instruction from such 
accidents as are favorable to his object, nor guard against the oc 
currence of such as are unfavorable. He can have no resources for 
unforeseen events, but ordinary expedients; while the man of sci¬ 
ence resorts to general principles, refers events to their causes, and 
adopts his measures to meet every case. 
IMPROVING THE BREEDS OF ANIMALS. 
By improving of a breed, is to be u nderstood the producing such an 
alteration in shape or description, as shall render the animal better 
fitted for the labors he has to perform ; better fitted for becoming fat; 
or forproducing milk, wool, eggs, feathers, or paiticular qualities of 
these. The fundamental principle of this amelioration is the pro¬ 
per selection of parents. T o theories have obtained notice on this 
sunject, the one in favor of breeding from individuals of the same pa¬ 
rentage, called the in-and-in svstem, and the other in favor of breed¬ 
ing rom individuals of two different olf-prings, called the system of 
cross-breeding. 
That the breed of animals is improved by the largest males, is a ve¬ 
ry general opinion, but bis opinion is the reverse of tile truth, and 
has done considerable mischief. The great object of breeding, by 
whatever mode, is the improvement of form, and experience has 
proved, that cross ng has only improved, in an eminent degree, in 
those instances in which the females were largerthan the usual pro¬ 
portion of lemales to males, and that it has generally failed where 
the males were dispmportionably large. ( Cully's Introduction, 
The following epitome of the science of breeding, is by the late emi¬ 
nent surgeon, Henry Cline, who practised it extensively on his 
own farm at Southgate. 
The lungs are of the first importance. It is on their size and 
soundness that the strength and health of animals principally de¬ 
pends. The power of converting food into nourishment is in pro¬ 
portion to their size. An animal of large lungs is capable of con¬ 
verting a given quantity of food into more nourishment than one 
with smaller lungs ; and therefore has a greater appitude to fat¬ 
ten. 
The chest, according to its external form and size, indicates the 
size of the Jungs. The form of the chest should approach thefi 
gure of a cone, having its apex situated between the shoulders, and 
lis base towards the loins. Its capacity depends on its form more 
than on the extent of its circumference; for where the chest is 
equal in two animals, one may have much larger lungs than the oth 
er. A circle contains more than an elipsis of equal circumference ; 
and in proportion as the elipsis deviates from the circle, it contains 
less. A deep chest, therefore, is not capacious, unless it is propor¬ 
tionally round. 
Tile pelvis is the cavity formed by the junction of the haunch 
bones with the bone of the rump. It is essential that the cavity 
should be large in the f< male, that, she may be enabled to bring forth 
her young with less difficulty. Where the cavity is small the life 
of tlie mother and her offspring ar • endangered. The size of the 
pelvis is chiefly indicated by the width of the hips, and the breadth 
of the waist, which is the space between the thighs. The 
broadih of the loins is always in p oportion to that of the chest and 
pelvis. 
Tne head should be small, by which the birth is facilitated. Its 
smallness affords oiher advantages, and generally indicates that the 
animal is of a good breed. Horns are useless to domestic animals 
and tl ey are often the cause of accidents. It is not difficult to breed 
animals without horns. The breeders of horned cattle and horned 
sheep sustain a loss more sensiole than they conceive ; for it is not 
the horns alone, but also much bone in the skulls of such animals to 
support the horns, for which the butcher pays nothing ; and besides 
this there is an additional quantity of ligament and muscle in the 
neck, which is of small value. The skull of a ram with horns weigh¬ 
ed five times more than a skull which was hornless. Beth these 
skulls were taken from sheep of the same age, each being four years 
old. Tne great difference in weight depended chiefly on the burns, 
for the lower jaws were nearly equal; one weighing seven ounces, 
and the other six ounces and three quarters, which proves that the 
natural size of the head was the same in both, independent of the 
horns and the thickness of the bones which support them. In horn¬ 
ed animals the skull is extremely thick. In a hornless animal it is 
much thinner, especially in that part where the horns usually grow. 
To those who have reflected on the subject it may appear of little 
consequence whether sheep arid cattle have horns, but on a mode¬ 
rate calculation it will be found, that the loss in farming stock, and 
also in the dimunition of animal food is very considerable, fiom the 
production of horns and their appendages. A mode ot breeding 
which should prevent the production of these, would afford a con¬ 
siderable profit in an increase of meat, wool, and other valuable 
parts. 
The length of the neck, should he proportioned to the height of the 
animal that it may collect its food with ease. 
The muscles, and the tendons, which are their appendages, should 
be large ; by which an animal is enabled to travel with greater fa¬ 
cility. 
The bones, when large, are commonly considered an indication of 
strength ; but strength does not depend on the size of the bones, but 
on that of the muscles. Many animals with large bones are weak, 
their muscles being small. Animals that have been imperfectly 
nourished during their growth, have their bones disproportionately 
large. If such deficiency of nourishment originated from a consti¬ 
tutional defect, which is the most frequent cause, they rnnabi weak 
during life. Large bones, therefore, generally indicate an imperfec¬ 
tion in the organs of nutrition. 
To obtain the most approved form, the two modes of breeding de¬ 
scribed as the in and-in and crossing modes have been practised. 
The first mode may be the better practice, when a particular varie¬ 
ty approaches perfection in form; especially with those who may 
not be acquainted with the principles on whch improvement de¬ 
pends. When the male is much largtrthan the female, the offspring 
is generally of an imperfect form. If the female be pioportionably 
larger than the male, the offpring is of an improved form. Form- 
stance, if a well formed large ram be put to e^es proportionately 
smaller, the lambs will not be so well shaped as their parents ; but 
if a small ram be put to large ewes, the lambs will be of an improv¬ 
ed form. The proper method of improving the form of animals, 
consists in selecting a well formed female proper tiona'ely larger than 
the male. The improvement depend on this principle, that, the 
power of the female to supp : y the oft'-prirtg with nourishment is in 
proportion to her size, and to the power of nourishing herself from 
the excellence of her constitution. The size ot the foet.u- is gene¬ 
rally in proportion lo that, of the male parent; and, therefore, when 
the female parent is proportionally small, the quantity of nourish¬ 
ment is d ficient, and her offspring has all the disproportions of a 
starveling. But when the female, from her size and good consti¬ 
tution, is more than adequate to the nourishment of a Feet us ol a 
smaller male than heiself, the growth must be proportionately great¬ 
er. The larger female has also a larger quantity ol inilk, and 
her offspring is more abundantly supplied with nourishment after 
birth. 
Abundant nourishment is necessary to produce the most perfect 
formed animals, from the earliest period of its existence until ’its 
growth is complete. As already observed, the powerto prepare the 
greatest quantity of nourishment from a given quantity of food, de¬ 
pends principally on i he magnitude ofihe lungs, to which the organs 
of digestion are subservient. To obtain animals with larger lungs, 
crossing, is the most expeditions method ; beca'use well formed le¬ 
males may be selected fro n alarger size, to bo put to a well formed 
mal of a variety that is rather smaller. By such a mode ot cross¬ 
ing, the lungs and heart become proportionately larger, in conse¬ 
quence of a peculiarly in t he circulation of the foetus, winch causes 
a larger proportion of the blood, under such circumstances, lobe 
distributed to rhe lungs, than to the other parts i»f the body : and as 
the shape and size of the chest depend upon that of the lungs, hence 
arises the remarkably large ches’s which is produced by crossing with 
•einales ‘hat. are larger than males. Thepiactice, according to this 
principle of improvement, however, ought to be limited ; for it may 
be carried to such an extent, that the bulk of the body might be so 
