96 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



perhaps, but by generations of clipping. How far that estab- 

 lishes the rule, I will not undertake to say ; but it does fix it so 

 much in my mind, that, as a practical breeder, I should avoid 

 breeding from an animal that had any defect caused by an 

 injury. I agree that it is a matter of nice science to tell whether 

 the rule is a fixed one, or not. I do not mean to say that it is ; 

 but as a practical breeder, I should avoid such marks. For 

 instance, if there is anything in the world that I detest and 

 abominate, it is what is called a drooping rump, in any thing, 

 unless it is a French trotting horse. A kanuck horse, that 

 can trot his mile in 2.40, and then has ended his business, may 

 possibly carry a sloping rump — if he wants to do it. It is 

 not an evidence of good breeding, decency, or anything else, 

 and that is the only animal I will forgive it in ; and I would 

 not forgive it in him, but for the speed he can get up now and 

 then. But if there is anything that is admirable to the eye of a 

 man who is fond of cattle, it is a straight, true, level rump. I 

 don't know why it is : whether it is because he knows that the 

 nice pieces lie there somewhere, or because it is a graceful thing 

 to see ; but so it is. You do not see it in pictures. You do 

 not see well-bred animals in pictures ; they are not in accord- 

 ance with nature. It is the art of man that has made the ani- 

 mal good-looking. Now, there is nothing to which our cows are 

 more liable, when covered by heavy bulls, than to get broken 

 down. The tail is not very strong, and is easily crushed down 

 upon the pelvis. I have no question, then, that a breeder might 

 produce, from a straight-rumped family of animals on his farm, 

 a set of animals whose rumps were sloping and broken down, if 

 he allowed his cows to be broken down in that way by heavy 

 bulls. I do not mean to assert, as a fact, that it would be so, 

 but I would avoid it, just exactly as I would avoid the selection 

 of ears of corn from my corn-field, that came from defective 

 hills, or had defects themselves. So, too, I would be particu- 

 larly careful about animals that had injuries upon them. With 

 regard to natural defects, every man knows that they must be 

 avoided. It is hardly worth while to discuss that matter. A 

 crooked foreleg in a bull will be very likely to make its appear- 

 ance in his offspring, and everybody knows that if there is any- 

 thing that will annoy a farmer, it is crooked-legged, knocked- 

 kneed cattle. If I had a knock-kneed bull, I should expect to 



