I IIM II W II M I 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



Vol. VII. 



MARCH 31, 1839. 



No. 3. 



EDMUND RUFFIN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 



ON THE BREEDING OF LIVE-STOCK, 



AND ON THE COMPARATIVE INFLUENCE OF 

 THE aiALE AND FEMALE PARENTS IN IM- 

 PRESSING THE OFFSPRING. 



C Concluded from page 123. J 



I have thus produced tacts of the influence of 

 the male on the progeny in the horse, the cow, the 

 sheep, and the sow, and in all J have endeavored 

 to show to the society, that, whether that parent 

 be the high bred one or not — whether to improve 

 or to deteriorate — it is the inale which has by far 

 the greatest influence over the offspring. I would 

 Btill quote one fact more, which has come under 

 my own eye; it is in the common fowl. In the 

 year 1810, 1 procured a breed of the Malay or 

 Chittagong fowls, and those I crossed once or twice 

 with cocks of the same breed, got horn different 

 quarters. In spring, 1824, they had been bred 

 from cocks reared at home for three or four years, 

 and were then all dark colored, without a white 

 feather, having either black or yellow legs. Most 

 o( them resembled a partridge. At this time I 

 learned tlie,''e was in a farmer's possession a breed 

 of fine Malays, which his brother (a. surgeon on 

 board an Indiaman,) had brought home. I sent 

 and purchased one. He was what cock-fighters 

 termed " pied," or in other words, had numerous 

 white feathers all over his body, with white legs. 

 From this cock were bred, in summer 1824, about 

 Beventy-eight chicks, of which number seventy- 

 three were either pied or had a great deal of 

 white on them ; and a great proportion of them 

 had white legs. Nothing but the iiifluence of the 

 male parents could have done this, for the hens 

 were all gallant hens, not a white feather was to 

 be found amongst them ; nor could it have been 

 owing to their ancestors, for they had all pedigree 

 as long as Sir VVatkin Williams Wynne. 



Thus far have I stated facts which are known 

 to myself and friends only; I would now mention 

 some which are within the reach of all. Let us 

 call to mind the ofl'spring from the mare and the 

 jackass. Is it not obvious to all the influence the 

 male parent has on the mule? Color, shape of 

 head, ears, and whole body, constitution, even 

 temper, are all derived from the male parent. I 

 had an opportunity of observing the very same 

 effects in the colt from a quagga and a mare, in the 

 possession of the Earl of Morion, at Dalmahoy. 

 And his lordship, I believe, observed that the 

 same mare, afterwards covered by a horse, retain- 

 ed in the progeny a resemblance to the quasiia,* 

 a fact of the most extraordinary nature. t I have 

 been frequently told that a mule got by a horse, 

 with the female ass, is a far superior animal, and 

 retains the mane, with the ears much less, &c. ; 

 but this is a fact 1 never could get to the bottom 



* The quagga is the species which Hnks the zebra 

 and the ass. 



t An account of the circumstance alluded to by the 

 author is given by the late Lord Morton, in the Phil. 

 Trans, for 1821, p. 21.— (Edit.) 

 Vol. VII— 17 



of. I only know it is believed by the Spaniards.J 

 Nothing can be more striking than the power of 

 the male in birds. Jt is well known that bird fan- 

 ciers, as they are called, put a cock goldfinch to a 

 hen canary, and that way get a strong, beautiful 

 male-bird, having the greater part in plumage, 

 song, and total appearance of the goldfinch, and 

 showing, to the most trivial observer, that the 

 male had the greatest influence in the progeny. 

 tC very one knows that the hen of any bird will 

 lay eggs although no male be permitted to eome 

 near her ; and that those eggs are only wanting in 

 the vital principle which the impregnation of the 

 male conveys to them. Here, then, we see the 

 lemale able to make an egg, with yolk and white, 

 shell and everj' part, just as it ought to be, so that 

 we might, at the first glance, suppose that here, 

 at all events, the female has the greatest influence. 

 But see the change which the male producee. 

 Put a bantam cock to a large -sized hen, and she 

 will instantly lay a small egg ; the chick will be 

 short in the leg, have feathers to the foot, and put 

 on the appearance of the cock ; so that it is a fre- 

 quent complaint where bantams are Itept, that 

 they make the hens lay small eggs and spoil the 

 breed. Reverse the case; put a large dung-hili 

 cock to bantam hens, and instantly they will lay 

 larger eggs, and the chicks will be good sized 

 birds, and the bantam will have nearly disappear- 

 ed. Here, then, are a number of facts known toeve- 

 ry one, or at least open to be known by every one, 

 clearly proving the influence of the male in some 

 animals ; and as I hold it to be an axiom that na- 

 ture never acts by contraries — never outrages the 

 law clearly fixed in one species, by adopting the 

 opposite course in another — therefore, as in the 

 case of an equilateral triangle, on the length of 

 one side being gi^'en, we can, with certainty, de» 

 monstrate that of the remaining; bo, having, 

 found these laws to exist in one race of animals, 

 we are entitled to assume that every species ia 

 subjected to the self-same rules — the whole beaf- 

 ing, in fact, the same relation to each other as the 

 radii of a circle. 



Now, then, to the point of expediency. Let ua 

 suppose that I have formed an erroneous opimon, 

 and that other essayists brincj forward counter- 

 proof, to show the power of the female. What 

 difficulties arise in changing the whole females on 

 an extensive farm, while, with what ease a new 

 male is procured! Sir John Sebright says, '-Many 

 females throw progeny unlike themselves, and it 

 would be wise to try them with a male whose 

 stock is known previous to breeding from them." 

 How should we manage if we found it necessary 

 from this cause, to put away a set of females, 

 which we had procured from a great distance, for 

 the very purpose of improving our breed? If 

 proof were retjuired in a thing so plan to common 

 sense, the enormous prices given for males in com- 



J If a mule be remarked in Spain as particularly 

 neat and handseme, the muleteer Wi i always say, "St, 

 $ignor, caballo estavo , padrt ;** Yes, »ir, a horse was 

 his father. 



