1851 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
103 
gonists, and that in proportion as the one is gained the 
other is diminished. It is true, that this law, in its ap¬ 
plication to animals, is subject to some modification from 
what is called nervous energy, but the principle of mo¬ 
tion is unchanged. 
In regard to sheep, it is well understood that there is 
a great diversity of characteristics. Some breeds pro¬ 
duce wool approximating in fineness to the fur of the 
beaver, remarkable for its felting properties, and suscept¬ 
ible of being wrought into broadcloths of the finest de¬ 
scriptions. Others produce rather hair than wool, the 
pile being destitute of felting properties, and incapable, 
on this account, of forming fibrics of the same charac¬ 
ter as the former. Between these, there is every grade 
of quality produced by different breeds, each adapted 
to a specific use. The long wool of the Leicester, Cots- 
wold, and Lincolnshire, is as useful in its way, as the 
short and fine staple of the Merino. 
And so, too, in regard to other properties of the dif¬ 
ferent breeds, there is an adaptedness to different situa¬ 
tions and uses. Some are fitted for fertile valleys and 
smooth, rich fields; others, of more natural activity and 
hardiness, to rougher pastures and more exposed dis¬ 
tricts. There is an equal variation, also, in the proper¬ 
ties of the different breeds for fattening, and the quality 
of their mutton. The Leicester, for instance, matures 
early, and fattens easily; but makes but a small propor¬ 
tion of lean to the fat. The South-down is longer in 
arriving at maturity; but has more muscle in proportion 
to the fat, and affords mutton of a finer quality. The 
Merino, in all its varieties, is valued chiefly for its wool; 
as it is not so much disposed to fatten, and does not give 
so good a quality of meat as some of the British breeds. 
A knowledge of the peculiarities of the different breeds 
of animals,has led to their proper classification and adapta¬ 
tion to those purposes and situations to which they are best 
suited. This has been done in a striking manner in 
England, and is beginning to be most successfully adopted 
in our own country. Chiefly within the present century, 
several of the most esteemed European breeds of horses, 
cattle, sheep, swine, and poultry, have been brought to 
this country, and are now propagated here with advan¬ 
tage. The introduction of the Merino sheep, alone, has 
been an acquisition of inestimable value to the United 
States. Previous to 1801, these sheep were unknown 
here, and though they were for sometime opposed by the 
prejudices of our farmers, they have been extended over 
the whole country, and have for several years been the 
source of an annual revenue of many millions of dollars. 
--©■»- 
Barley and Malt. —Late experiments have settled 
the question as to the inferiority of malt to barley in 
feeding cattle. Barley in the process of malting loses 
about seven per cent, of highly nutritive substances, and 
thus is its nutritive power diminished. But in malt there 
is a peculiar substance found, generated in the malting 
process, and of high solvent power, which greatly aids 
the digestion of other food, even when such malt is given 
in small quantities. One-tenth part of the barley devo¬ 
ted to feeding stock may be used in the shape of malt. 
A small portion may be given, as a digestive, with dry 
food. A smaller portion still with moist food, like po¬ 
tatoes, may be given: the digestion will thus be improved, 
and the health of the animal insured; while even in man 
the mastication of a little malt after meals would con¬ 
tribute to the digestive process .—Lecture on the‘pro¬ 
perties of Food. 
The Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties. 
Analytical Laboratory, Yale College, 1 
New - Haven , Conn ., Jan . 27 , 1861. } 
Messrs. Editors — I place the above sentence at the 
head of my page, as the subject of the present letter. 
It is one which I have somewhere seen illustrated in a 
humorous manner that has often served to recall it to re¬ 
membrance, and to provoke a smile, when otherwise the 
feeling excited might almost have been of a melancholy 
character. Within the past few years, or since my main 
object has been to promote the advancement of improved 
agriculture, the “ pursuit of knowledge under difficul¬ 
ties” has frequently arrested my attention. It has been 
exemplified in the shape of some worthy farmer, old or 
young, who has turned away from his plow and team 
for awhile, and is toiling manfully to clime some steep 
scientific hill, or painfully striving to fathom an obscure 
valley of learning which has suddenly opened in his way. 
No toil in the field under the glowing heat of harvest, 
has ever exhausted the sturdy frame, as have these in¬ 
tellectual efforts and struggles; the venturesome agri¬ 
culturist has left the region of facts and substantial, 
and has penetrated into a land where all is unknown; 
now half stifled by ammonia, with an occasional whiff 
of other highly nitrogenous bodies, he labors on toward, 
as he fancies, some glimpses of certainty, but just as he 
plants his foot firmly, is overwhelmed by a cloud of 
ashes in the form of inorganic manures. He plunges for 
relief into an open drain, but soon finds that he must 
submit to the compression of a pipe tile, and perhaps be 
employed in irrigation. His hair stands on end as he 
peruses even the names, of the awful substances which 
are described as constituting what he has heretofore 
looked upon as simple turneps and potatoes, and his own 
respiration becomes impeded as he thinks of the com¬ 
bustion that is going on in the lungs, and the transforma¬ 
tions in the stomachs of his friends and neighbors, after 
one of those hearty meals that he has so unthinkingly 
shared with them before. 
But these are only a tithe of the difficulties which 
beset the daring individual who strays away from the 
old track. He studies and perplexes himself over a 
theory or principle till he has become confident that he 
sees through it completely, and prepares to put it in 
practice; he is full of the subject, and even imparts his 
expected success to his incredulous acquaintances; hut 
alas for his confidence, some other writer comes forth 
with his views upon the same topic, and very probably 
contradicts point blank all that the first one wrote, and 
leaving the unhappy farmer in a state of doubt and per¬ 
plexity that is truly distressing. But perhaps he is a 
man not easily disheartened, and turns to some other 
taking theoretical proposition,—here he has at last found 
what must be correct, and now he is to reap the reward 
of his superior skill in opening this new way to wealth; 
unfortunately however, he very probably finds once 
more upon actual trial, that even scientific men are 
fallible; the crops that were to grow on a particular kind 
of food, most obstinately refuse to flourish at all • the 
chemically prepared fodder proves distasteful to the 
unscientific tastes of his animals, or if they do continue 
to eat, they utterly refuse to grow fat upon it. except 
