377 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
1851. 
—. 
Trees for Waste Lands. 
Eds. Cultivator —On most farms there is generally 
more or less waste lands, such as steep hill sides, gravel¬ 
ly knolls, &c. These lands, in their barren state, always 
give a cold and forbidding appearance, and often mar the 
beauty of the farm. To improve these lands in the short¬ 
est way, and at the least expense, is the next thing. 
Probably many farmers will have a variety of ways of 
doing it, and if they bring about the desired result, all 
very well. But the majority of farmers will content 
themselves to do just nothing at all. Yet there are some 
who are inclined to improve such lands, when they are 
convinced of its importance, and know how it can be 
done. The practice of plowing and manuring such lands 
is fraught with many evils, as in plowing knolls and side- 
hills the wash of rains is so great as to keep the land in 
sterility, besides the difficulty in plowing and cultivating 
it to any advantage. 
Now I think the best way to manage such lands, is to 
let them grow up to timber. On some lands of this kind 
young sprouts will come in naturally, which, if taken 
care of, and left undisturbed by the plow, or by cattle, 
will soon make young trees. On other lands it would be 
necessary to plant acorns and chestnuts, or else set out 
the young trees ; and these trees, with proper care, would 
in a,few years make a handsome grove. It is not inten¬ 
ded to make a forest on these lands, but more to leave 
them scattering, like the “ ouk openings” of the west, 
free, of course, from all underbrush. 
When these trees get sufficient size to shade the ground 
well, the grass will begin to come in, and in a few years 
a clean grass sward will be made. We are satisfied that 
what these lands want most is protection from the scorch¬ 
ing rays of the sun, and the washing of rains. In proof 
of this, any farmer must have noticed how soon a grass 
sward will form under a tree where it stands on a bar¬ 
ren knoll. Probably the small fibrous roots of the tree 
help to make the sward, and then the cattle repose under 
its shade, and add their excrements to the soil 5 so by all 
these agents combined, a good soil is formed. These 
ranges of side hills and knolls, after the treesget grown 
to sufficient size, may be kept in permanent pasture, 
both for sheep and cattle. Thus a farmer, after a few 
years, would have the satisfaction of seeing his former 
barren hill sides converted into handsome groves and 
belts of timber, adding much to the beauty of the farm 
and landscape. 
Often, in the line of old fences, the hickory tree will 
come up, and if protected a little, will in a few years 
make a fine tree. I think this tree decidedly one of the 
finest forest trees in this country, as its leaves are large, 
it affords a good shade, and a fine protection from the 
sun. L. Durand. Derby , Conn., August 30, 1851. 
Kerr’s Poultry Book. 
Eds. Cultivator —In a very well written review of 
Dr. Kerr’s edition of Dixon on Poultry, in your last pa¬ 
per, the reviewer alludes somewhat uncharitably to cer¬ 
tain objectionable passages in the letters of one of Dr. 
Iv.’s correspondents. As I have good reason to know 
that at least one of those letters was not designed for 
publication at all, and none of them intended by the wri¬ 
ter to be published “word for word.” without curtail¬ 
ment or alteration, you will permit me to offer this in 
palliation. Expressions that are not to be tolerated in 
print, may be almost excusable in private confab, or cor¬ 
respondence between cronies. 
There is one point, however, on which I must join is¬ 
sue with Observer, and the very respectable rhyming 
worthy whom he quotes to prove that “ want of decen¬ 
cy is want of sense.” The poet needed a rhyme, and so he 
wrote “want of sense,” carelessly, of course, for he surely 
had too correct an appreciation of his own powers, to 
charge himself seriously with lack of brains. For truth 
or meaning, any other expression would have answered 
as well, but it would not jingle. A greater bard, who 
lived on the banks of Avon nearly BOO years ago, and 
whom a young lady of my acquaintance very admiringly 
pronounced “« smart man” used a great many “ immo¬ 
dest words,” and so did Etherge and Rochester, and 
Buckingham, and many of the famous wits of by-gone 
days, and yet no one will accuse them of want of sense. 
The condemnation is altogether too sweeping in its cha¬ 
racter to be just. A decided want of decency is certain¬ 
ly very censurable, but not amenable to the charge which 
Mr. Observer endorses by quoting. Observee. North¬ 
umberland, Pa.. Sept. 8 , 1851. 
Cross-breeding Animals. 
A pamphlet has lately been published in Scotland on 
the effects of cross-breeding, by Alexander Harvey, 
M. D. We have not seen the work, but have seen fre¬ 
quent notices and extracts from it in English and Scot¬ 
tish journals, and in the Quarterly Journal of Agricul¬ 
ture, there is a review of it by the editor, Mr. Stephens. 
Dr. Harvey propounds a new theory in relation to 
some ideas connected with cross-breeding, which are thus 
stated: 
“ There is a circumstance connected with the process 
of breeding in the higher classes of animals which seems 
to me to merit a larger share, than it has yet received, 
of the attention of the agricultural body. It is this,—• 
that a male animal that has once had fruitful connexion 
with a female, may so influence her future offspring be¬ 
gotten by other males, as to a greater or less extent en¬ 
graft upon them his own distinctive features— -his in¬ 
fluence thus reaching to the subsequent progeny, in whose 
conception he himself has no share, and his image and 
superscription being, so to speak, more or less inscribed 
upon them.” 
He proceeds to cite several instances of the characters 
of the male by which a female first conceived, being visi¬ 
ble in offspring afterwards produced, from other males. 
One of these Is the case of the Earl of Morton’s mare, 
which has been often mentioned. The mare was first 
covered by a quagga, an animal of the assinine family, 
with stripes like those of a zebra. She produced a hy¬ 
brid, which had the marks of its sire, as might have been 
expected. But a singular result followed. The mare 
afterwards produced three foals in successive years, by 
an Arabian horse, all of which had stripes like those of 
the hybrid ! 
Dr. H. has gathered similar facts in regard to sheep 
and other animals, and he thinks there are analogous 
phenomena in the human species. 
Mr. Stephens, (the reviewer of Dr. H.,) sums up his 
