364 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



not return. Sell them to butchers at home, if you can. Always estimate the weight and 

 value of your bullocks the day before any one is coming to buy them ; and, after letting the 

 butcher handle and examine them well, let them out into a yard for him to see ; they will 

 always show better than when tied up." 



Improving Stock. 



THERE is one circumstance relative to the Introduction of new breeds which must not be 

 passed over in silence, because no farmer can neglect it without a certain loss. Every kind 

 of pasture is fitted to raise animals to a particular size ; when beasts of a larger size are 

 brought in than the quality of the food is calculated to support, these animals, whether cows, 

 horses, sheep, or any other kind, will degenerate apace, and never prove useful until they 

 come down to that standard or size adapted to their situation and suited to their food. On 

 the other hand, when a smaller breed than ordinary is brought in, they continue to increase 

 in bulk until they come up to the pitch which is suited to their nourishment. But there is 

 this remarkable difference between the two progressions in respect to profit that in the retro- 

 grade process, where animals are brought from rich pastures and a comfortable situation to 

 the reverse, they are in every instance worse than the indigenous breed ; whereas, the ani- 

 mals which are brought from worse to better, continue to improve until they arrive at that 

 perfection which the change in their situation is calculated to produce. These causes may 

 not immediately have their full effect, but in a few years they certainly and evidently will. 

 He makes, for this reason* a much safer experiment who brings cattle from worse to better, 

 than he who brings them from better to worse. Agricultural Report, Perth Society, England. 



Judging Animals. 



A CORRESPONDENT of the " Mark Lane Express" (England) makes the following remarks on 

 the method of judging and estimating the value of animals. He says The difficulties which 

 are often experienced by the most competent judges in deciding between two really first-rate 

 animals of a first-rate sort, are greater than the majority of people who have never acted in 

 the capacity of judge have any idea of. 



I will take an instance of two first-rate Shorthorn bulls, neither of them having a faulty 

 point. Judge A. says "What a superb back No. 1 has !" B. says "But look at the depth 

 of carcass in No. 2." " But the length of the quarter in No. 1 !" continues A. ; and in return 

 B. draws attention to the silky texture of the skin of No. 2. The question is here put to 

 Judge C., who should decide the case ; but he has to balance in his mind whether a superior 

 back is more to be considered than an extraordinary depth of carcass ; and, again, is a first- 

 rate quality of hide equivalent to an unusual length of quarter ? And thus points, without 

 having some definite value attached to them, might be compared one against another ad 

 infinitum, without ever coming to a satisfactory conclusion. 



Now, what I wish to see is, a definite value affixed to every point in the perfect animal, 

 and when such cases of nicety as I allude to do occur, let the judges take point by point, 

 and compare value in numbers, and then the animal commanding the highest amount would 

 be the one selected. If the perfect animal were 50, the component parts might be something 



as follows: 



Bull. Sheep. Boar. 



General appearance 8 10 



Back (length and width) ; 8 10 8 



Chest 645 



Width of hips and loin... 545 



Depth (rotundity of carcass) 545 



Quarters 533 



Head v 449 



Hide (or wool) 452 



Bone 3 2 



Shortness of legs ._2 _1 



50 50 50 



