304 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



which prevail, both in this country and the United States, in 

 respect to different breeds, my judgment may be viewed with 

 jealousy and suspicion, and I may have to encounter fierce preju 

 dices, on the part of breeders and speculators. My opinion will 

 be given without any pecuniary bias whatever ; and I beg my 

 friends will, in any event, regard it as that of an humble indi 

 vidual, making no pretensions to infallibility of judgment, and 

 anxious only to give the result of his various inquiries and ob 

 servations, in as impartial and simple a form as possible. 



Two things impress strongly the mind of an observing trav 

 eller, in this matter ; the first, the variety of distinct breeds 

 which present themselves ; and second, the perfection to which 

 individuals, and large numbers of each of these breeds, are car 

 ried. Different localities in the kingdom have their favorite breeds, 

 are tenacious of their peculiar merits, and are sure. to prefer them 

 above all others and, at the same time, the pains and expense, 

 which are bestowed upon their improvement, have been rewarded 

 by many examples, in most of the breeds, of what may be called 

 the perfection of form, and the highest degree of fatness a 

 degree of fatness transcending the most stimulated appetites of 

 epicurism, and verging, in some cases, almost to disgust. 



The science, or, perhaps, it may be called the art of breeding, 

 has been greatly studied. But notwithstanding the success 

 which has attended it, especially with some men, yet, as in respect 

 to most recondite subjects in nature to which the human mind 

 has applied itself, there remains a great deal to be understood 

 and explained ; and we, as yet, have only passed the first steps 

 on the threshold. The evidence of this is found in the fact, 

 that the great question of the propriety of breeding in and in. 

 or of propagating within certain lines of affinity, is still a mooted 

 question. High authorities are quoted on both sides. Indeed, it 

 must be obvious, that unless we suppose several distinct individ 

 uals of the same race, wholly independent of each other, to have 

 existed at the same time, and to have been the foundation of so 

 many distinct families, there must exist, among the animals of the 

 same race, an inextinguishable relation of affinity by blood. The 

 whole object of the famous Herd Book is, indeed, to trace back 

 all these diverging streams to a single fountain, and thus, by an 

 uninterrupted descent, to demonstrate the purity of the blood. 

 But our ignorance, and the consequent limitation of human 



