FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 467 



ill the National Live Stock Journal in 1873. " Every exhibitor must own the 

 animal exhibited at least six months previous, and no animal can take more 

 than one prize except a medal, and cannot compete again in the same class. 

 No exhibitor can make more than one entry in a single class, and eacli entry 

 must be accompanied by a certificate giving names of owner and breeder 

 together with pedigree as far as known, the age, the kind of food upon which 

 fed and ])repared for the sliow. A breeder's certificate must accompany this 

 to corroborate the age. These certificates are open to challenge, and when 

 challenged, proof must be brought to substantiate them. If found false the 

 exhibitor is forever disqualified from exhibiting at the shows, and all stock 

 bred by him is ineligible to entry in any of the classes." 



This furnishes the officers and judges data from which to work, and informs 

 the people in the reports, of what has been done with certain breeds, and how 

 they have been cared for in order to produce the best results. You will also 

 see by this that reasonable ])recautions are taken to secure honesty in exhibi- 

 tors and judgment unbiased in the judges, and from the results and awards as 

 published we are led to suppose that these were distributed as they were earned. 



Let no man deceive himself in regard to this matter and think that in any 

 one breed lies all excellence, under all conditions and with all attending circum- 

 stances, or that this excellence may always be found in one of the pure breeds. 

 We have seen that sometimes it may fall among the fine and showy Short- 

 horns ; at others it is with the grand and beautiful Hereford or Devons, and 

 again it may be found with the black and homely Polled Scots (as they are 

 often termed), or high grades of either of the foregoing breeds or their crosses. 



But while we are looking to see what animals are excelling in beef produc- 

 tion, let us pause and see in Avhat this excellence consists ! Let us see what the 

 ideal may be, toward which we are to direct our attention in our future work. 



Excellence in a beef breed may consist in the particular excellence of the 

 beef, or animals themselves, or in the excellent results given when fed for beef. 

 Some of the excellences to be noted in the animal will be, smallness or fine- 

 ness of bone in proportion to carcass or weight. This is one of the tilings 

 sought after in breeding animals for beef, while in close connection with this 

 we should aim to get all the size we can without coarseness. Coarseness in an 

 animal shows a poor quality of beef and an animal that will not feed to the 

 best advantage. Closely following this is attention to the form of animals, 

 choosing such as will give a large return of the best parts of beef and a corres- 

 ponding small return of neck, brisket, shank and other poor parts. While 

 looking to squareness of form, breadth of chine and loin depth, etc., we must, 

 be on the guard and see if we cannot avoid an immense development of the 

 abdominal contents. This adds nothing to the value of the animal, but on tlie 

 contrary detracts much from his value. The animal, then, that will dress the 

 greatest net weight of good beef to the given live weight is the animal sought 

 after. This varies much in different animals, and somewhat in different breeds. 

 In general terms, cattle that will dress G0% of good beef are considered as good 

 beeves. Some fall under and a few go over that per cent. The Hereford 

 grade exhibited by Mr. Miller at Chicago was sold to Mr. Drake, dressed for 

 the Christmas dinner at the Grand Pacific hotel, and netted 67.09% of his live 

 Aveight. The remarks of the committee, as quoted by the " Live Stock Journal," 

 are quite significant on this point. It says : '*' Some of the animals in this 

 class (steers four years old and over, all breeds and grades included), were 

 patched with fat and were uneven. The great majority had good backs and 

 thick loins, were fine in bone and head, with short necks; as a rule they were 



