THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



503 



at the Smithfield Club Show. They are in existence, 

 and where there are a few, there may soon be many, 

 and even superior to any that may now be found, 

 for they will still improve under more extensive 

 cultivation, and, bein^ naturally adapted to the soil 

 and climate of this locality, will under improving 

 circumstances be probably more profitable than 

 any other breed. It was judiciously remarked by 

 Mr. Davies at the dinner of the late Llandilo Show, 

 that they wanted more loin and to handle better. 

 These are doubtless their worst points : they are too 

 narrow and flat sided, and usually hard handlers, 

 but what may not be ett'ected by judicious and 

 persevering selection, careful breeding, and im- 

 proved management ? We should soon see brought 

 about a better form and quality : selecting those 

 beasts with most fully arched ribs would give a 

 rounder barrel, greater breadth, and more loin. 

 The best of our native breed are not much wanting 

 in depth of carcass, or levelncss of back, but they 

 do want finer bone, and a smaller, neater head ; 

 but those points would gradually improve, as 

 would also the quality indicated by a better touch 

 or more mellow handling. But how is an ordinary 

 farmer to set about improving his native stock ? 

 Why, if he is very restricted in his means, and it is 

 as much as he can do to scrape together his rent 

 by the day he has to pay it, he cannot effect much 

 improvement in his stock or anything else ; but if 

 he has capital suited to his farm, I would say let 

 him acquaint himself thoroughly with the kind of 

 animals he wants to improve the points that con- 

 stitute their excellence, and which he has to culti- 

 vate. Let him keep his eyes open, and be on the 

 look out, as Colling was, and when he lights upon 

 anything very superior, especially if it has points 

 or quality in which his stock is defective, let him 

 secure it, although it may cost him something more 

 than its apparent value. He will find it, I have no 

 doubt, even more difficult to get quality than form, 

 quality indicated by that yielding mellow touch, 

 and soft curly hair, that tells you when you put 

 your hand upon the animal that it will thrive and 

 speedily convert all the food you give it into flesh 

 and fat. Perseverance will accomplish it, recollect- 

 ing that " like begets like," but still qualified by 

 the principles I have endeavoured to elucidate. 

 Following this course he will find in a few years 

 that he will not easily meet with stock to beat his 

 own, for it will have attained such a state of im- 

 provement as he could hardly have anticipated at 

 the outset. This at any rate appears to me the 

 course to be pursued ; but there are gentlemen 

 connected with this club of greater experience than 

 myself, and who will I trust give us the benefit of 

 it before this discussion is brought to a close. It 

 frequently happens that in improving a stock the 

 breeder is confined to one or two animals of high 

 qualities, ])ossessing the desired points in a high 

 degree, and will be compelled, or at least desirous 

 of eventually producing his whole stock from them, 

 and he will have no alternative but to breed very 

 closely for a time. This is my own case. I met 

 with a heifer in the island of Jersey that is in 

 several respects superior to any other Alderney I 

 have seen, having in fact a combination of the 

 characteristic^excellences of her breed ; and I hope 



in a few years to be able to trace all my herd up to 

 her. I believe that I shall suffer no disadvantage 

 by rather close breeding at first, but be able to en- 

 tail her valuable qualities to the whole herd ; and 

 the circumstance of the whole herd having been 

 derived from one animal will be likely to give such 

 a uniformity of character to the appearance of the 

 whole as greatly to add to its beauty. An interesting 

 paper on the " Maisemore Shorthorns," published 

 in the last IFelshman, certainly gives one encourage- 

 ment to pursue such a course. It states " that 

 every cow and heifer," on that extensive farm, 

 "with one single exception, is bred from two cows 

 which Mr. Morris's father bought from Mr. Strick- 

 land, of Apperley Court, in 1829." Mr. Strickland's 

 herd was then of long standing, and consisted of 

 the best blood, he having been a purchaser at the 

 sales of the two brothers Collings, and had always 

 used first-rate bulls." It goes on to state, " like 

 Mr. Stratton's, Mr. Morris's Shorthorns are highly 

 prolific, and he seems to have none of the apj)re- 

 hensions of abortion some of our breeders are com- 

 pelled by sad experience to entertain." Is not this 

 evd, as well as barrenness, more the result of too 

 high feeding than any other cause. We sometimes 

 hear it intimated that a good deal of breed goes in 

 at the mouth — that is, that it is attributable to 

 good feeding. I cannot subscribe to this doctrine 

 at all; but I am quite ready to admit and enforce, 

 that no attention to breeding, be it what it may, 

 can succeed, unless it is accompanied by proper 

 feeding and management from the beginning. 

 They must go hand in hand. This however is not 

 our subject to-day, but it is a subject that- 1 hope 

 will be brought on for discussion at some early 

 period. I believe it is in the power of every far- 

 mer to improve his stock, and that greatly; but it 

 must be an object of special attention, and if made 

 so, it will not only be a source of greatly aug- 

 mented profit, but of pleasure and satisfaction ; for 

 what can be more pleasing to a farmer than to see 

 his stock improving in quality every succeeding 

 year, particularly with the knowledge that his 

 animals will always command a ready market, and 

 realize a good price, even frequently beyond their 

 value ? for there is always a desire to procure what 

 is superior. Would not this be a much more 

 pleasant state of things than what we frequently 

 witness at our fairs? that is, the farmer standing all 

 day long behind some miserably inferior stock, 

 until you do not know which looks most wretched, 

 the poor animals or the farmer himself, who at 

 length is obliged to drive them back home again, 

 because no one will buy them at hardly any price; 

 whereas if his stock had been what it -would have 

 been by following the course I am endeavouring to 

 point out, he would have met with an eager pur- 

 chaser at an early hour in the morning, and soon 

 returned home to cheer his wife with the account 

 of the excellent sale he had made ; leaving only 

 some lingering regrets behind at parting with 

 animals to which they had become attached from 

 the care they had bestowed on them. 



Mr DavikS, Noyaddfach, said that the greatest 

 care should be taken in the selection of stock for 

 breeding, and it would be found in practice that 

 out of a small herd not more than two or three 



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