DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 257 



CHAPTER XIV. 



DOMESTIC ANIMALSPRINCIPLES OF BREEDNIG, 

 NUTRITION, MANAGEMENT, &c. 



The principal domestic animals reared for economical pur- 

 poses in the United States, are Horned or neat cattle, the 

 Horse, the Mule, Sheep and Swine. A few Asses are bred, 

 but for no other object than to keep up the supply of jacks 

 for propagating mules. We have also goats, rabbits and the 

 house domestics, the dog and cat ; the two former, only in 

 very limited numbers, but both the latter much beyond our 

 legitimate wants. There have been a few specimens of the 

 Alpaca imported, and an arrangement is now in progress for 

 the introduction of a flock of several hundred, which if dis- 

 tributed among intelligent and wealthy agriculturists, as pro- 

 posed, will test their value for increasing our agricultural 

 resources. We shall confine ourselves to some general con- 

 siderations connected with the first mentioned and most im- 

 portant of our domestic animals. 



Their number as shown by the agricultural statistics col- 

 lected in 1839, by order of our General Government, was 

 15,000,000 neat cattle ; 4,335,000 horses and mules, (the 

 number of each not being specified;) 19,311,000 sheep ; 

 and 26,300,000 swine. There is much reason to question 

 the entire accuracy of these returns, yet there is doubtless 

 an approximation to the truth. Sheep have greatly increased 

 since that period, and would probably number the present 

 year (1846,) not less than 28,000,000 ; and if our own man- 

 ufactures continue to thrive, and we should moreover become 

 wool exporters, of which there is now a reasonable prospect, 

 an accurate return for 1850, will undoubtedly give us not less 

 than 35,000,000 for the entire Union. There has been a 

 great increase in the value of the other animals enumerated, 

 but not in a ratio corresponding with that of sheep. This is 



