432 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



first-cross calf. The following season the same cow was served with a pure Aberdeenshire 

 bull; the produce was a cross-calf, which, when two years old, had very long horns, the 

 parents being both polled. 



Mr. Shaw, of Leochel-Cushnie, put six pure-horned and black-faced sheep to a white-faced 

 hornless Leicester ram, and others of his flock to a dun-faced Down ram. The produce were 

 crosses between the two. In the following year they were put to a ram of their own breed, 

 also pure. All the lambs were hornless and had brown faces. Another year he again put 

 them to a pure-bred horned and black-faced ram. There was a smaller proportion this year 

 impure; but two of the produce were polled. One dun-faced, with very small horns, and 

 three were white-faced showing the partial influence of the cross even to the third year. A 

 small flock of ewes belonging to Dr. ~W. Wells, in the island of Grenada, were served by a 

 ram procured for the purpose the ewes were all white and woolly; the ram was quite 

 different of a chocolate color, and hairy, like a goat. The progeny were of course crosses, 

 but bore a strong resemblance to the male parent. The next season Dr. &quot;Wells obtained a 

 ram of precisely the same breed as the ewes, but the progeny showed distinct marks of 

 resemblance to the former ram in color and covering. 



Darwin cites the following case: A sow of Lord &quot;Western s black and white Essex breed 

 was served by a wild boar of a deep chestnut color, and the pigs partook of the appearance 

 of both sire and dam, some of them being strongly marked by the chestnut color of the sire. 

 After the boar had long been dead the sow was served by a boar of her own black and white 

 breed, which are remarkable for breeding true, and never show any chestnut color, but 

 from this union the pigs produced were many of them strongly marked with the same 

 chestnut color that characterized the first litter. This influence is not always perceptible, but 

 is very liable to appear, hence caution should be used in this respect in breeding pure-bred 

 stock. Professor Agassiz has expressed the opinion that the influence of the first male 

 impregnating the dam is so great, that the chances are that every young of that dam 

 afterwards will possess some of the characteristics of the first male that served her. 



But not only will the first impregnation, but mental impressions received by the female 

 during the period of the oestrum or heat, be likely to affect the offspring, and often to a very 

 remarkable degree. 



A Mr. Mustard of Angus, in Scotland, had a cow that came in heat while at pasture in 

 a field bounded by one belonging to a neighbor, out of which an ox jumped, and went with 

 the cow till she was brought home to the bull. The ox was white with black spots, and 

 horned. The cow and the bull were not only hornless, but there was not a horned beast on 

 the place, nor one with any white on it, the polled Angus breed being jet-black. But the 

 calf in the following spring was black-and-white and horned. 



A curious case is related of a Dr. Hugh Smith who was traveling in the country with a 

 favorite female setter, when the bitch became suddenly enamored with a mongrel cur that 

 followed her till he was obliged, in order to separate them, to shoot the cur. The image of 

 this sudden favorite, however, still haunted the bitch, and for some weeks after she pined 

 excessively, and obstinately refused intercourse with any other dog. At length she admitted 

 the caresses of a well-bred setter; but, when she whelped, the doctor was mortified with the 

 sight of a litter which he perceived bore evident marks, particularly in color, of the favored 

 cur, and they were all destroyed. The same also occurred in her future puppings: invariably 

 the breed was tainted by the lasting impression made by the mongrel. The mental 

 impressions received at the time of the heat are sufficient to stamp the progeny.* We cannot 

 be too careful to select the associates we keep with our pure-bred stock. 



Breeding of Animals in a Wild State. The animal in a wild state, or in a state 

 of nature, has stronger reproductive powers, greater energy of the system and constitution, 

 than one long under the influence of domestication, the natural laws being to some extent 



