82 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Wednesday, December 12. 



FORENOON SESSION. 



The Board met at 9\ o'clock, Mr. T. G. Huntington, of Hart- 

 ley, in the chair. 



CATTLE HUSBANDRY. 



Professor Agassiz was called upon to open the discussion upon 

 the topic assigned for consideration this morning, to wit, Cattle 

 Husbandry. 



Professor Agassiz. I have not much to say upon this subject ; 

 but from the few remarks I made last evening, you may perceive 

 that I wish to have every point discussed bearing upon the 

 breeding of animals in a manner that may be profitable ; and it 

 seems to me that the best way would be, not to take up the 

 subject in all its bearings at once, but to take up one point at a 

 time, so that we may have a specific topic to discuss. If you 

 will permit me, I will begin by submitting the facts I know with 

 reference to one point, and the views I entertain upon that point, 

 and then we may collect the material which we all have upon 

 that question. 



The first thing to which I would allude is the relation of the 

 two sexes, and the influence of one upon the other in the 

 offspring, so that we may, if possible, get all the light we have 

 with reference to selecting those individuals from which we want 

 to breed, and those individuals which we are to use as fecun- 

 dators. Now, there is, in the production of animals, one fact 

 which is, at the very outset, of very great importance. It has 

 reference, not only to the condition of the two parents, but to 

 the condition of the ancestors. No offspring is simply the 

 offspring of its father and mother. It is at the same time the 

 offspring of grandfather and grandmother on both sides; and, 

 at all events, we can trace in any offspring qualities which are 

 not immediately to be ascribed to the father or mother, but 

 which, in a measure, come always from one or the other of the 

 grandparents. You see, therefore, that the security of desirable 

 animals for breeding which is not extended to the grandparents 

 is no security at all, because the qualities of the grandparent 

 may crop out at any moment. What I say is not a mere matter 

 of theory ; I have experimented upon that point over and over 



