1S333 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



411 



Miis iierisimi, the}" shnil stPiidily piiivue the nhjeci 

 I hey Imve in view, (iml endeHvor lo solort such 

 males as shall he likely to <ret ofli?prini): possessiiiir 

 these qualities ; that they shall carelnlly and can- 

 didly examine the li>males from which they intend 

 lo breed, ohserve the fiiults, in sliape or quality, 

 which prevail arnon<j them, and select males who 

 shall pos.-^ess correspondiiiix perlections. That the 

 safest mode of ascertaiiiinu' what are likely to he 

 l!ie qualiiies ol' the produce from a male in future 

 is, where there is the opjiortuiuly, to see what are 

 the qualities of the ofFsprinjif already produced fron) 

 them ; then, the next to this if, to observe what 

 are the qualities ofihe family to which he beloiiffs; 

 and that in the case of not havinjT ilie opnoriiiuity 

 ofmakini; use of either of these <ruides, they may 



ties of the ancestors of eacfi. They h ive also the 

 opportunity, by using a male cautiously at an early 

 age, ofknowiniT by experiment, whether rue stock 

 produced from him is jrood or bad, before they nm 

 the risk of injurinfr their stock materially by ijsinj^ 

 him lartrely. This may l>e a^-certaincd with suf- 

 ficient accuracy wlien the produce are very ynunjr; 

 l!)r an expei ienced breeder can .jiidge with tolerable 

 icrtaiiity what will be the shape oi'a calfor a lamb 

 when it ijrows up by seeint; it soon after it is born, 

 and before it has be<;un to lay on fat. Nor is it 

 necessary to sec many of the produce for the pur- 

 pose of decidinj^ what its treneral characteristics 

 will probably be. I admit that in saying liiie I 

 am speaking more from my experience as a breed- 

 t'r of catile than a breeder of sheep, but I believe 

 assume that it is probable that 'he qualities of the [the same observation will apply to both. It 



imlividual himsell^ which in all cases ought to he 

 atlendeil to, will, if he is well bred, descend lo his 

 oti.sj)ring. 



It has already been said thai their are Iwo clas- 

 ses among the farmers who breed cattle and sheep; 

 the one, ofiho.se who breed bull.= or rams, and the 

 other, of those who breed oxen or ^vethers l^ir the 

 purpose of irrazing only ; the above observations 

 are intended to apply it» both. But much more 

 attention ought to be paid fijr the first of lhe.se 

 classes in the selection of the animals from which 

 they breed than is absolutely necessary in the 

 other. This is essential to their own interest, be- 

 cause a male animal vcryolten .shows liiuhs in his 

 shape whiidi, if he had" been castrated, would not 

 have ajipeared. It frequently, therefo.'-e, happens 

 that the (irodiu-e from a bull or a ram may prove 

 excellent cattle or s'icep Ibr gr^iziiiij purposes only, 

 but n)>iy be totally unlit to be kept as ihe sire of 

 future stock. Their iluiy also lo those who iiire 

 or buy Irom them imtioses upon them the obliirn. 

 tion to pay ihesMiciest i-.nd n)ost minu'.e aiteniion 

 to the qualiiies of ilicir male anin;ds ; more par- 

 liculaily, they are bound not lo oli'er to their cus- 

 tomers any one, ol the health of which they have 

 any reason whatever to doubt, whether this dcubi 

 arises (ioai any weakness ol" consiituiion, \\hich 

 may have appeared in the individual himself, or 

 whether it arises from iheir knowledge of the fam- 

 ily from which he is descended. They are bound 

 also, not io keep i\s males any animals who are 

 not perfectly well breiJ. It does not (ialiow from 

 this, that a long pedijjree is in ail ca.«es necessary, 

 although it is generally desirable; but it someiimes 

 happens that a lemale, of whose pediirree the own- 

 er is ignorant, will have produced offsprinnr which 

 have all possessed extraordinary merit, and \vhich 

 have proved iheuitelves good breeders also : a 

 male descended liom suc!\ a femali^ may lie con- 

 sidered per!ectly well bred on her side ; and will, 

 very possiblj', prove a better sire than many whose 

 pedigree is much longer. 



In pa\iiig this minute attention lo their occupa- 

 tion, the breeders of male animals have sonie ad- 

 vantages not possessed by others ; the}' have 

 gener.illy the oiiportuniiy of knowing accurately 

 what are the characteristics of the lauiilics ol' the 

 animals from which they breed, an opportunity 

 not possessed by tliose. who breed only fbrgrazinii: 

 purposes. In oid"r to make a proper use ol" this 

 advantage, Ihey ought to keep accurate pedigrees 

 of their cattle and of their sheep, and as far as pos- 

 sible, when they put the males and females toge- 

 ther, recollect what have been the respective quali.- 



certain, however, that seeing four or five calves 

 I'rom a bull outrht to be a sufficient guide to the 

 breeder.as to wliether he will be valuable as a sire 

 or not. Unless there is a family likeness which 

 generally pervades, through the produce from a 

 bull, alihouiih h(^ may be valuable as the sire of 

 oxen, it will not be safe to use him as the sire of 

 bulls. The seeing, therefore, four or five calves 

 will prove to the breeder whether there is such a 

 family likeness among them, and whether it exhi- 

 bits itself" in such qualities as hidicate that when 

 thev grow up they will be valuable animals. 



There is one tiiiling to which all breeders are 

 liable, but to which <he breeder of male animals, 

 'i^om the greater interest attaclied to his occupation 

 is more pieculiarly liable, and against which he 

 oiiirht most careh.lly to ijuard him-elf ; this is, too 

 sreal a partiality fir animals bred by him.<eif In or- 

 der to iriiard against this he ouaht to occupy himself 

 nu re in looking for faults than in discoveiiiiir me- 

 ri's in his stock, heouirht lo listen to every criticism 

 he heais made upon them, even by those whose 

 judirmeni he does not hold in hiijh estimation — 

 not, of course, with the view of being satisfied at 

 once Ihai the criticism is correct, but wi h the view 

 ofsaiisfying himself, by accurate and candid ex- 

 amination, whei.her it is so or not ; and he ought 

 froqiienily lo see the slock belonging io other 

 breedei-s, and fairly compare its merits' with thoso 

 of his own. 



I think it most probable ih^at in the foregoing 

 observations nothing wiil be Ibiind which will give 

 new and useful infoiniHlinn lo practical iiirmers; 

 but I have been iiu'oced to submit tlu^m to tho 

 English Airricuhural Society, because I conceive 

 that one of ihe great olijects of ihat society is ilie 

 diffusion oi" knowledge conriected wifh every 

 branch of"larminir- 'I'be best way in which it can 

 be enabled to efiect this object, is by those of its 

 memliers who have paid attention lo any of" the 

 divisions of liirming operations, communicaiing to 

 the society the lesults of their practice and experi- 

 ence. Il will then be for the society to circulate, 

 by any means in their poiver, such of these com- 

 munications as it shall appear to them are likely 

 to be useful to those enga<zed in the cultivation of 

 Ihe land. With this view I place this paper at 

 their disposal. 



CHIJSCH BUGS. 



From the Raleigh Star. 



These mischievous little insects have, we regret 



to learn, committed great ravages upon the wheat 



