THE WISCONSIN FARXMER.                                
           408


'i how to make the stock eat the straw '?" My I other nations, are strong
proofs of the degen-



practice for two years past has been to stack eracy that naturally follows
such a policy.
my straw as well as I do my hay, by laying In the animal kingdom it is well
known that
the foundation of the stack its full size in the all the superior breeds
are the result of
beginning, and to every layer of straw 10 to "crossing."
12 inches thick, I scatter a peck of salt, and  The thorough-bred horse,
the great breeds
so on until finished. After the machine is of cattle, sheep and other animals
are so con-
removed, I rake the stack well and top it with elusive proofs of this principle
that not a
the raking. I do not allow my stock to come I word of comment is necessary.
The same
to the straw stacks until winter sets in: then principle applies to the vegetable
kingdom,
let the cattle go and help themselves. They where all the great improvements
in variety
never come to look for their hay night and are the result of the mingling
of different
mornings, as in former seasons, so long as elements, while the planting of
seed in the
the straw lasts. By the first of March 1 have ground from which it is raised,
is believed to
been so eaten out of straw as to have no bed- be the principle cause of the
numerous evils



ding for my hiorses.                           I
  Yours, &c.,                 J. J. DAVIS.   i



     S T()C'       RE I { G 1TE tR,

       Sheep Husbandry-Breeding En.

  tine of the greatest evils connected with the
culture of sheep is the custom of "breeding
in." It is a law of nature, as well'defined as
that the needle points to the North pole, that
the mingling of kindred blood will produce
degeneracy and disease.  In all civilized
countries.tls principle is so well understood
and recognized, that laws are enacted to pro-
hibit marriage between kindred.  On the
other hand, it is a well established fact that
the greatest races of men that the world has
ever produced have sprung from an intermix-
ture of remotest nations. England may be
mentioned as a striking illustration of this
theory. The great historian Macauley says,
"'early in the fourteenth century the amalga-
mation of the races was all but complete, and
it was soon made manifest by signs not to be
mistaken, that a people inferior to none exist-
ing in the world had been formed by a mixture
of three branches of the great Teutonic family
with each other, and with the aboriginal Brittons.
The rapidity with which our own country hat
progressed in the scale of nations, may rea-
sonably he attributed to a mingling of races
while China, Japan and other countries thal
h    ___   centui es  r ua, A~tfQAA  ,, rnm minle



than beset the cultivation of the soil, such as
the " rot ' in potatos, the "w weevil,' " smut "
a-d " cockle " in wheat. &c. Some eight years



;ince. it will be recollected, the wheat crop of
Ohio was destroyed for several years in suc-
cession by the -' weevil." This result is be-
lieved to have been caused by sowing wheat
on the same ground from which it was raised,
as it i's well known that this was the com-
mon practice in Ohio at the time referred to.
Finding their crops destroyed, the farmers
came to the conclusion that the particular vari-
ety of wheat they had been raising had "run
out," as they termed it, and sent to other parts
of the country for seed wheat. The impres-
sion became very general that "' M1editerrane-
an " wheat was not subject to being destroyed
by "weevil,"which was true simplyfor the reason
that it was a nce' variety, and had been buta short
time before introduced. It had not, therefore,
been "' bred in-and-in" as that which was de-
stroyed by "weevil'" had been for years.
Any seed wheat brought from other states
would no doubt have proved equally as bene-
ficial as the Mediterranean. We heard a gen-
tleman from Ohio, a short time since, extoll-
ing a variety of wheat brought from Califor-
nia w*hich had proved wonderfully product-
ive, and free from the evils we have mention-
ed. If the farmers of Ohio will send to Cali-
fornia or Maryland, Michigan, New York,
Minnesota, or any other distant country every
,,,.r for their seed wheat, they will, in our judg-



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