m 



t'ARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. ^ 



I found the truth of this in a very striking in- 

 stance about ten years ago. Having a cart- mare 

 of a very superior description [;\nd which hns 

 twice gained premiums at agricullural shows] I 

 looked out. lor a first-rate stallion, iuteiidiiig to 

 breed Irom her. At that time a horse, belonging 

 to Mr. Buchan, near Crief, called Blaize, was car- 

 rying all before him.* I thought I could not do 

 better than breed from this horse, not taking into 

 consideration that both sire and dam were of the 

 same make, viz: rather long in the leg; the con- 

 sequence was, that I had a very fine Ibal to be 

 sure, but with longer legs than either of the pa- 

 rents. The next time 1 iiad learned to correct my 

 former error, and bred from a short-Iegtxed horse 

 from Cheshire, which was a great cross to my 

 Scotch mare, and also differed from her in shape. 

 'J'he efiect was immediately visible. I hnd a 

 mare which it would be difficult to produce an 

 equal to, the leg not being so short as the father's, 

 although the whole appearance much resembled 

 him, nor quite so long as thai of the dam. Ano- 

 ther very striking instance of this came under my 

 notice a few years ago. A friend of mine [Gene- 

 ral Burnett] had a mare what is called three parts 

 bred, certainly a very fine mare to breed l>om, 

 but a very tall mare, with long legs, which was 

 put to the longest letrged thorough-bred horse 1 

 ever saw. (Bethlem Gabor. the property of Lord 

 Aboyne.) The produce quite resembled the sire, 

 and, at two years old, had reached the height of 

 seventeen hands; but he was a monster, all legs, 

 and very soon proved this by knuckling over at 

 the pastern joint, till at last he could not walk ; and 

 at three years old was shot. The same mare was 

 next covered by Hospitality, a horse as remarka- 

 ble for being short in the leg, and what is termed 

 short-jointed. The produce was now a low stur- 

 dy animal, ij-reatly resembling the sire, and short 

 in the leg ;t thus in both instances provini?", not 

 only what I mention to be requisite, viz: judicious 

 selection of the two parents in reference to the 

 make of each, but also the great power of the 

 male to change the whole shape and appearance 

 of the produce. 



* This horse ^eneraly cleared £150 per annum to 

 his owner, gaining every prize at all the aijricultural 

 sliows for many years; IVequentlv b°inn; =r>I"cto(l as 

 the best, when 25 to SO of the iinest stallions from 

 Clydesdale and Fife were shown in the same field; 

 and was, without all doubt, a most superb horse. 



f In the Philosophical Transactions for ISO!), in a 

 paper by Mr. Knight, on the same subject as this es- 

 say, the author, in contending for the impropriety of 

 propagating from large in preference to small females, 

 brings forward a very interesting remark upon length 

 of leg in the offspring. " Nature," says he, " has 

 given to the offspring of many animals (those of the 

 sheep, the cow, and the mare, afford familiarexamples) 

 the power, at an early age to accompany their parents 

 in flight ; and legs of such animals are nearly of the 

 same length at the birth as when they have attained 

 their perfect growth." The natural result from which 

 would be, that the offspring should resemble their 

 mother in length of leg, and consequently, while there 

 was an excess in this respect on her part, care ought 

 to be taken to breed from a male, calculated by the 

 comparative shortness of his legs, or the great depth 

 of his chest and shoulders, either to correct the ten- 

 dency or impart a body of proportional power. — Ed. 

 Mag. 



I proceed next to mention the necessity of at- 

 tending to pedigree. 



If we look, with an attentive eye, to nature and 

 to her productions, we shall see that they are not 

 only beautilul, but that all she docs is uniform. 

 Thus every wilil animal is of the same color, and 

 nearly of the same shape ; every flower resembles 

 another; but man must alwa}^ be assisting na- 

 ture, as he terms it. Then we see flowers grow 

 many colored, or perhaps double; beasts and 

 birds chance their sliape, color and nature, so thai 

 we see such varieties as were altogether unlooked 

 for. 



The only way v\^e can guard ajrainst this, is to 

 know well what the ancestors of the animals we 

 breed liom were. Wiihout this, our produce will 

 every now and then be breaking through the ge- 

 neral rules, and annoying us with odd-looking 

 animals, deriving their shape from some of their 

 ancestors, perhaps, two or three generations back. 

 Few words will suflice as to Ibod, and care of 

 the offspring. Noihiiiir can be more absurd thari 

 to suppose that animals can improve if neglected 

 in their youth. 



We have the strongest proof of this in the 

 starved animals bronixht from the West High- 

 lands, which crowd our liiirs, particularly those of 

 Falkirk and Hallow Fair of Edinburgh. Let a 

 firmer buy some of those when " year olds," and 

 place them [ere they be at the age of maturity] 

 in a more genial climate, and on good keep. See 

 what beautilul cattle they become. Let him buy 

 two-year olds, and the improvement will be Icss-^ 

 at three, and ihey will oidy lay on fat, wiihout 

 reaching larire size. On 'he other hand, let him 

 purchase half a dozen starved looking small cows, 

 from the same part of the country, in calf [pro- 

 vided they shall be of the pure breed ;] let him 

 take those cows home, and suffer the produce to 

 suckle the dam while she li^eds in good pasture. 

 In winter, let them be well fed, and lie in a shed 

 or house tolerably warm. What sort of beast has 

 he now ? I^et the reader call to mind the West 

 Highlanders shown at Queensbury House for the 

 two last years, every one of which weighed from 

 70 to 80 sione, and the question is answered. I 

 was once 'al;en to see the cattle of the late General 

 Simpson, who had the purest short-horn blood, a 

 breed which, without all doubt, arc capable of be- 

 ing made the fattest. These catdc were in such 

 a state as I have never seen any other animals. 

 They were all bone and skin, llicir eyes looked 

 unhealthy ; and altogether, from starvation, and 

 I rather think from want of crossing, they appear- 

 ed like so many invalids in the last stage of con- 

 sumption. To improve any breed, or keep it up 

 when improved, slock must be well fed fi"om the 

 time they are produced. "Sir," said a great 

 breeder to me once, "to produce a fine animal, you 

 must l(3ed him from the starting-post." Warmth, 

 that is a temperate climate, appears to be perfect- 

 ly necessary to the improvement of all animals, 

 and particularly so in live stock connected with 

 agriculture; for, if we look at these animals, or 

 even the human species, whether in the frigid or 

 in the torrid zone, we find them dwindling into 

 Liliputian size. 



I come now to the grand point ; to prove which, 

 [ conceive it will be necessary to fix upon some 

 marks whereby a change, and that change an im- 

 provement, may be traced. The one, which in 



