The Osceola times., 1880-07-24
FACTS FOR FARMERS.
Breeding Cbaractcrisiics-Thc A. my
Worm Farm Notes.
BREKDISo CHARACTERISTICS.

BRbhDlNG CHARACTERISTICS
The Record, very properly. has some
thing TO sav now and then to encourage
the breeding of improved or fancy stock.
but there is one phase of the matter
have never seen mentioned in PRINT,
which, il true, is exceedingly important
Most stock breeders will remember that
in 1872, Mr.. Samuel Campbell, of New
York Mills, near Utica, n. Y, had the
most successful stock auction sale ever
known, a trifle over one hundred pedi-
greed animals bringing over $500, 900,
one COW alone bringing thounpiecedcnt-
price of 100000. The winter previous to
this sale Glanced to visit Mr.. Camp
bells stables, and was shown through
them by him in person. While exam.
lining and admiring his magnificent
short-born bulls | asked him if the
farmers in the vicinity patronized him
frequently-mcaning whether they ap
preciated his stock well enough to cross
their own herds in order to improve
them. Rather to my surprise, he an
swered: Oh, no; / would not permit it,"
inquired uhy, and he replied, in sub
stance: Because it would weaken their
capscity for producing pure stock when
That is to say, to produce stock of the
highest possible purity and excellence
the male must not be contaminated sex
ually with anything inferior to himself
| in quality. / did not attempt to discuss
the question, because l had no well de-
fined opinions about it; and, besides, an
opinion from so successful breeder ss
Mr.. Campbell was entitled to the high
est respect, in spite of its novelty or
startling nature. But If fact, it GER
tainly is impol tant. and must modify in
some measure our estimate of those
high-bred males with long pedigrees-
whether bulls, stations, boars, or even
turkey. cocks-which for liberal com
pensation, are coupled indiscriminately
with al females of high or low degree
whose owner can raise the cash to pay
| for the costly service.
But is it true? Generation, we all
| know, is very mysterious matter,
about which much is yet to be learned;
| but are the shades of influence SO subtle
and mysterious that high-bred male is
deteriorated ever after by sexual associ-
| alton with scrub, or an inferior in any
respectP II so, the service of high-bred
animal let indiscriminately must be
worth far less than one coupled only
with his equals in blood and pedigree;
''the get" of such stock must share in
| the depreciation. And if this theory OF
contamination be true of ANIMALS, whose
rather scanty minds-if they have any
can have but slight influence in mod.
| flying the equalities of their offspring
how must such fact effect the race OF
man? Is there not here justification
| founded on natural laws, for the caste
ideas ofthe East Indias, or the exclu-
siyeness of the European nobility? /
| only refer TO these phases of the subject
to show how far-reaching il is, but with
no purpose to pursue the thought. But,
if true, it fully justiiies an owner OF
high-bred stock in being exclusive to-
ward the Common herd" or charging
rates for service that bear some proper
ton to the meanness and impurity of
the females presented. And then, on
the other hand, assuming that the rule
works both ways, the male should be
| improved by association with a female
altogether his superior in blood and
breeding; and in such case the owner
| of the male should be the one topayl
Why not?
l have seen almost every phase OF
stock breeding questions discussed ex-
| cept this, and if any breeder reading
| this can cite observations or facts bear
ing upon it, hope, with The Record'
| permission, they may be placed before
the public.-Phiiadelphid Record.
THE ARMY WORM.
Professor Comstock, the entomologist
of the Agricultural Department, after a
visit to Delaware, where he investi-
gated the army worm, has just made a
report, in which he SAYS: The adult in
sect is night-hying moth of duh
brown color, marked in the center of
each fore wing with a distinct white
spot, and with an expanse of wing little
over an inch and three-quarters. , The
moth deposits her eggs in folds of leaves
or grass or grain, nearly always conceal
| ing them from sight. During winters
| of unusual mildness a. SUCCESSION of
broods is kept up through the entire
year. During the present winter C70-S0)
we have received full-grown worms.
with accounts of damage to winter grain
| in the months of December, January and
February, from localities as far north as
| Union County, South Carolina, and
Marion County, Tennessee. Ordinarily,
however, in these States, and always
| further north the insect lies dormant
| through the winter months. We can
safely state that it passes the winter
both in the moth and chrysalis states.
In either case, as soon as the weather
| becomes warm, in the spring, the moths
emerge from their pupal cases or their
hibernating quarters. and lay their eggs.
| The natural habit of the army worm
was stated by DR.. Fitch, to he Sin the
wild grass of wet spots in swamps and
on the borders of Marshes" and in this
statement he has been followed by
nearly all succeeding writers. He then
says that they may be destroyed by
burning over the lowlands where they
are found. They may be crushed with
rollers, and when they attempt to mi
CRATE to other fields bitches should he
dug around the infested fields. The
bitches can be made quite rapidly; first,
plow a iurrow with the 'land side" next
TO the field to be protected, and then
with a spade make this side of the fur
row vertical, or, if the soil be compact
enough to admit of it, overhanging
When the ditch is completed holes
should be dug in it from one foot to
eighteen inches deep, and from twenty
to thirty feet apart. the sides of these
should also be vertical, or, if possible,
overhanging. The worms, unable to
climb up the vertical sides of the ditch
will crawl along the bottom of it and
fall into the holes, where they soon
perish. Where the soil is sandy, 80
that the ditch can not be made with
vertical side, it should be dug deeper