BREEDS OF CATTLE. 145 



suitable breeds, and keeping them pure and, 

 Qdly, the provision of shelter for stock in 

 winter. 



With regard to breed, where the distance to 

 market is not considerable, or where fat cattle 

 may be carried to market, I should think 

 short-horns the most suitable stock for a 

 States farmer, as that breed feeds kindly and 

 to a great weight, and is of a hardy constitu 

 tion, and as the soil of the States is amply cal 

 culated to rear it to perfection. 



But of whatever breed he makes choice, he 

 should be particular as to its purity, both in 

 the original purchase, and by endeavouring to 

 preserve it from mixture with other breeds. 

 Or if from any circumstance he finds a cross 

 advisable or unavoidable, he should by all 

 means shun breeding from the cross, other 

 wise he will soon render his stock wholly 

 mongrel and comparatively worthless, which 

 indeed I observed is the case with regard to 

 the greater part of the American stock I ex 

 amined. On the other hand there is a disad 

 vantage in breeding long in families, and this 



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