LOWER ANIMALS. 225 



breed our heifers at fifteen or seventeen months, so as to cast their 

 first calves at two years or twenty-six months of age, and we have 

 found a decided advantage in it." 9 The same authority says of 

 bulls : "they should not be used, other than sparingly, at less than 

 two years." 10 At the other extreme we find that the short-horn 

 cow, Young Mary, had fifteen calves and died at 21, and that Old 

 Comely, the dam of the celebrated bull Twopenny, was killed at 

 the age of 26. But such instances of longevity among cattle are 

 rare. I find, however, that some of the very best of the blooded 

 stock are the produce of unusually old animals. The celebrated 

 bull Favorite (252 English Herd Book) was calved in 1793. When 

 10 years old he got Comet (155 E. H. B.), the famous 1,000 

 guinea bull; and the next year got North Star (458 E. H. B.), 

 another famous bull. 11 The bull Cotmore (376), who is said to have 

 been "one of the finest bulls ever seen," was the son of Sovereign 

 (404), when at the age of 15 years. 12 These are said to be ex- 

 treme ages and not at all representative of the ordinary practice. 

 A fair idea may be obtained from Allen's remark 13 that "some 

 men have a strange notion that after a bull arrives at the age of 

 4 or 5 years, he should be discarded." I estimate the average age 

 of reproduction for cattle at 4 or 5 years, but that the best age is 

 about 3 or 4 years more than this. 



DOGS AND SHEEP. 



The dog, which vies with the horse as being the most intelligent 

 of domestic animals, reaches maturity at two or three years of age, 



(9) Allen, American Cattle, p. 260. 



(10) Ibid., p. 263. 



(n) Allen, American Cattle, p. 264. 



(12) Miles, Stock Breeding, p. 163. 



(13) American Cattle, p. 264. 



