i2'2 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



to do witli the great principles we have endeavored to ilhistrate; they 

 apply alike to all breeds of cattle. Every breeder, then, should well 

 consider the properties of the stock from which he breeds, investigate 

 their good qualities and their bad qualities, and while he endeavors to 

 keep up or improve the former, he should study to remove the latter. 

 His selection must be strict; the heifer or cow should have as few of 

 the bad points as possible, every excellence in perfection, and be in good 

 licalth ; the bull should be of the same kind, and if related, only in a 

 remote degree ; nor should he have been brought up on a pasturage 

 ditfering from that of the cow, or under the influences of a ditferent local 

 climate ; he should not only possess the good points desired, in all their 

 perfection, but he should also have the points which the farmer con- 

 siders to be the excellences of his own stock, as admirably developed. 

 Thus acting with judgment he may expect improvement; and if he fail, 

 there is some concealed fault which has been overlooked, either on the 

 one side or the other, or some defect in their parents, and which (in 

 accordance with the tendency there is in families to exhibit, from time 

 to time, certain peculiarities, latent perhaps for a generation) has again 

 made itself manifest ; consequently, on both sides there ought to be 

 what is termed " good hloodP But this is to suppose a stock already 

 improved to a great extent ; and here we may repeat the injunctions 

 laid down by the Rev. H. Berry, which more particularly apply to the 

 farmer commencing de novo: "A person selecting a stock from which 

 to breed, notwithstanding he has set up for himself a standard of per- 

 fection, will obtain them with qualifications of different descriptions, and 

 in difl'erent degrees. In breeding from such he will exercise his judg- 

 ment, and decide what are indispensable or desirable qualities, and will 

 cross with animals with a view to establish them. His proceeding will 

 be of the ''give and take kind^ He will submit to the introduction of a 

 trifling defect, in order that he may profit by a great excellence ; and 

 between excellences perhaps somewhat incompatible, he will decide on 

 which is the greatest, and give it the preference.* 



"To a person commencing improv^ement, the best advice is to get as 

 good a bull as he can, and if he be a good one of his kind, to use him 

 indiscriminately with all his cows; and when by this proceeding, which 

 ought to be persisted in, his stock has, with an occasional change of 

 bull, become sufliiciently stamped with desirable excellences, his selection 

 of males should tjien be made to eradicate defects which he thinks de- 

 sirable to be got rid of. 



"He will not fail to keep in view the necessity of good blood in the 

 bulls resorted to, for that will give the only assurance that they will 



* "A person would often be puzzled; he would find different individuals possess- 

 ino: difTereut perf(>ctions in diirerent deorrees: — one, good tiesh and a tendency to 

 fatten, with a bad form: another, with fine form, but bad flesh, and little dispositicm 

 to acquire fat. What rule should he lay down, by the observance of whieh good 

 might be generally produced, and as little evil as possible eftected? Utiuty. The 

 truly good form is that which secures constitution, health, and vigor: a disposition 

 to lay on flesh with the greatest possible reduction of oftal. Having obtained this, 

 other things are of minor, tliougli perhaps sometimes of considerable importance." 

 — PrizeEssay, by the Rev. H. Berry, 



