STOCK. 269 



like judicious liberality is perceptible in his selection of assist- 

 ants to whose care these valuable animals are entrusted. But 

 the feature in Mr. Whitman's management to which we wish 

 especially to call attention, is the thorough, business-like record 

 which he keeps of all matters relating to his stock. Their 

 marks, age, pedigree, couplings, produce from first to last, and, 

 what is most unusual, the quality, composition and cost of their 

 food, and their daily yield of milk, are all systematically 

 recorded, and can be instantly ascertained and precisely stated. 

 The value of such a register for a breeder's own guidance, for 

 the satisfaction of purchasers, or for the information of the 

 public, can scarcely be overestimated. 



Mr. Whitman's partner, Dr. Miles, has a large herd of Ayr- 

 shires ; and the quality of his herd, and the fullness and pre- 

 cision of his statements, clearly show that his management is 

 characterized by a like methodical care and good judgment. 



To turn from these pleasant pictures to examine the practice 

 of Messrs. Gammon, Snap and Co., is no agreeable task; but 

 the illustration of our subject requires it. 



In the purchase of stock their first requisites are cheapness 

 and a pedigree. They have lots to say about the aristocratic 

 lineage of their herd, but it is usually difficult to trace the fam- 

 ily likeness, and in the pedigrees there is often a lamentable 

 hiatus of a generation or two, bridged over with animals bred 

 no one certainly knows how or by whom. If the cows are with 

 calf, and you ask the date of their service, Michael is appealed 

 to, and, after mature consideration, fixes the period by reference 

 to an interesting circumstance which occurred about a fortnight 

 or three weeks before Owen Flannigan's wake ; but whether 

 this latter occasion was celebrated in March, April or May, is 

 more than " the body o' me knows." The calves are coarse, or 

 rickety, or feeble, or deformed, and even if some of them look 

 plump and fat, their condition is no credit to their dams, whose 

 milking qualities are evidently of the most meagre character. 

 The bull and heifer calves run together till the impropriety of 

 their doing so is very fully proven. A discreet silence is ob- 

 servable as to the character and fate of the earlier produce of 

 the cows, but the neighbors say that their first progeny were 

 sired by a scrub bull which shared their pastures. In short, on 

 every side, we may observe marks characteristic alike of the 



