The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-01-02
The plarter-The Farmers Guide

MOLLY. It's initial No. is one Of the best IL
has issued, il not the very best. IL has IN
front a portrait Of Professor NJ. VILE,
distinguished scientific gentleman OF
France, whose contributions toagriculturai
information have gained him great fame.
In correspondence with the Planter he
has sent two articles on the subject OF ''The
Nutrition Of Live Stock" which will be
translated by Colonel RANDOLPH HARRISON,
OF Cumberland. and published in the
Planter. 49, Us '4
The contributions TO the Planter are
varied and instructive. The editorial de-
partment is. active, pithy, and practical, as
usual; and DR.. ELLzEr's stock department
is very full of excellent information.
So impressed are we with the "informa-
tory" value OF the Planter that we have
styled it "the farmers guide" 1t has i'm
proved much. and has seized upon subjects
imminently important to the agricultural
community and discussed them through it's
own views, as well as those of its CORE
spondents, in livery wise and whats bet,
ter) practical manner Agriculture the
most important of all interests to society
is the pursuit by which Virginia chiefly can
be rebuilt, and for this reason we regard the
Planter as invaluable for the information it
is giving.
Just before the last annual meeting Of the
State Agricultural Society, gentleman, at
a meeting of the Henrico or Tuckahce Ag-
rlcultural Club, remarked that il at that an
nual meeting any intelligent farmer would
impress upon farmers generally two facts
he would be entitled to the thanks OF the
community. These two facts were: First,
the Importance to the farmer OF perserering
in the use OF homemade putrescent mil
nures; second, of feeding and taking care
of domestic animals in an intelligent and
kind manner. The gentleman argued that
the lands had deterioratcd and the crops
been diminished by the improper use
of the guanos and the neglect Of
the domestic sources for fertilization.
He also commended that the intro
duction Of improved stock and hogs at
the fairs had established great delusion in
the country. People thought they had only
to buy improved stock to obtain animals
that would fattcn on little and fatten quick
The result with all persons who neglected
stock would be that the improved breeds
would soon be inferior to their former
stock, which had become accustomed to
hard usage and learned how to shift for it.
10 tr,,tb bn& Ga Z,
that neglected animals, meanly or nobly
bred, cannot appear wei, and that hard usage
tells quickest upon the superior stock. An
other truth is that by careful handling and
. plenty of good food any farmer can soon
make for himself as fine animals as he need
to have.
DR.. ELI.ZEY, in his excellent article on
Variability in Domestic Animals" eluci-
dates this very point in mastery manner.
In the course of bis essay he points out
the folly Of oyer-fotness, especially in inn
pairing the powers of procreation. At the
same time he shows now ruinouS to good
breeds are neglect and stinting of food !;
also OF putting animals in localities not
Quilted to them. He says:
"Let us takea pair of perfectIy-improved
short-horns, or herd Of them, and turn
them ont to shift for themselves upon the
pine barrcns of the Atlantic coast, to earn
precarious existence by infinite cXertions
in search Of food. Let them be wintered
under the lea of a pine thicket on straw,
chat, and corn-stalks, barely sufficient to
maintain them alive, until the scant heritage
peeps forth in spring. Visit them when
they have descended to the third or fourth
generation, and we shall see that which
will convince us how potent are changed
conditions Of life to alter the character of
the breed; we shall have an ocular demon
stration Of the fact that variation Of the
food-supply will, above and beyond all
other causes, impress sinister variability
upon the stock" .....
The following paragraph contains great
deal of practical wisdom which none can
controvert and all farmers should adopt
for their government:
owe say that more potent than all causes
in producing variation in domestic animals
is variation Of the food-supply. Animals
having their food-supply regular, and in
creased to maximum, and their exercise
reduced to minimum, consistent with
health, with good shelter and ample vcnti-
lation, will quickly begin to show the good
effect Of such conditions by varying in The
direction Of Improvement Of form and early
development, showing increased size and
beauty. 1t is strange how uniformly ami
mails vary under such conditions. In all
cases nearly the leg will be shortened and
the weight Of carcass Increased. 1t cannot
hn {No -hrt hoFc <la
minds OF breeders that there is q
nearly unvarying relation between lightness
of body and length Of limb in all four-footed
the barrel, and the foundation OF improve
ment is laid broad and secure. Upon that
foundation the breeder may build for stsle
to the point Of extreme finish in every part.
We assert the opinion with confidence, that
q comparatively short leg and we'll
sprung rib it will be hard to find beast Of
large size, early maturity, and great pro-
pens,ty to lay on fat, be it OK, sheep, or
swine. AS soon as the parents have begun
to vary in this direction, under the influ-
ences above set forth, the tendency becomes
the character OF the offspring by hereditary
descent; and descending in both maternal
and paternal lines the effect goes on in
creasing, while the conditions of food. shell
ter, and exercise remain unaltered until the
limit Of excellence is reached; provided,
always, only those animals which excel are
selected for breeders" 30 =" ]: go
DR.. ELLzEY shows as much Of practical
wisdom as Of science, and speaks as one
who knows what he is talking about. For
instance, somebody in Baltimore published
in the Sun that cows can be wintered with