^I)c Iax\mx5 iHoutl)ly lUBttor. 



107 



largely into CQiisidenitions romiected with iiial- 

 rimony. Far better lor n female to be blessed 

 with a husband, who, kind and niitiriiig in his 

 attentions to her, is also temperate, inleHijjent, 

 prudent and active — wlio never feels hapiiier llian 

 when at home, or in the pnrsuit of his [iroper 

 avocations, — far better, we say, tor a woman to 

 choose snch a companion, than one more affluent, 

 bnt less devoted, npriglit and industrious. In 

 the one case she will possess sources of constant 

 dependence, while in the other, the first cold 

 storm of misfortune njay rednce the pecuniary 

 means, and at the same time dissipate the dreatii 

 of affection. F'redcriLa Breijier draws an admi- 

 rable portrait of a husband in her story of the 

 Neighbors. "Thank God!" says her heroine, 

 when alluding to her husband, who with a rough 

 e.xterior is described as possessing a superior in- 

 tellect and a noble nature—" Thank God, that 

 Lars Anders is no gloomy secret. Ilis soul is 

 clear and undisguised as God's daylight, and this 

 constitutes the blessedness of united life and the 

 peace of home." Again, on the other hand, con- 

 trasting a lawful and unlawful object of affection, 

 she says : 



"He treats her harshly, hut she bears all with 

 slavish servility. How deep must a woman have 

 sunk before she can suffer herself to be .so treat- 

 ed, and, like a hound, creep fiiwning to the foot 

 which kicks it away I How unlike to this spirit 

 of a slave is the fi-eV, but unassuming mind, wiflj 

 which an honored and beloved wife devotes ber- 

 Belf to the object of her pure devotion !" 



We will only aild, in tiie language of a true 

 philosopher, that "a lover's quarrel has often- 

 times spared many a niatritnonial sr|nabble, and 

 were both parlies to weigh duly their mutual un- 

 fitness befote uniting ihemselvi.'s, what loads of 

 misery might be averted." — Philaddphin Inquirer. 



From the Albany Cultivator. 

 Improvement of Domestic Stock. 



Few things are of more importance to the ag- 

 ricultural interest of a country, than tlieir do- 

 mestic animals ; ajid any decided improvement 

 in the breeds, Ibrms a solid addition to the pro- 

 ductive wealth of a nation. For instance, any 

 change in the character of our cattle, which, by 

 adding to their weight, aptitude to feed, early 

 maturity, &c. should give a gain of twenty per 

 cent, on their value, woidd increase the worth of 

 this item alone about fifty millions of dollars. 

 That such an improvement might be made on 

 the conjtnon stoi-k of this country, there are few 

 intelligent men that at the present time will 

 doubt. Facts and experience are most conclu- 

 sive on this point; and what is true of cattle, 

 will also hold true of all other varieties of do- 

 mestic aniuials. 



But while most will readily adirfit the necessi- 

 ty and practicability of improvement, there are 

 some differences of opinion among practical and 

 well informed men as to the best methods of 

 effecting it. Some contend that the only rational 

 prospect of improvement is to be found in intro- 

 ducing foreign stock, and breeding from these, 

 to the exclusion of all native animals, 'lliere 

 are others who maintain as strenuously that there 

 is no necessity whatever fpr any introduction of 

 foreign blood ; that we have among ourselves, 

 and in our own herds, all that is necessary to 

 produce as perfect animals as any of the im- 

 proved breeds of Europe. Others assert that 

 the truth lies midway between these e.\treme 

 opinions; thai the true cotn-se is to import valu- 

 able animals, if they can l*e ohiaiued, from abroad, 

 and breed them to our most valuable and choice 

 stock, taking caie to select such as are the best 

 adapted to produce any given res-ult or quality. 

 We shall examine these opijiions in llieir order. 



Careful and skilful breeding lies ;if ilie fjunda-, 

 tion of all im|)rovenient in .stock, and this is 

 mainly effected by J;,idic;ous selections. Color, 

 form, "quality and disposition, are all under the 

 control of the breeder. He can equalize and 

 harmonize the whole, or he can develope one 

 jioint at the pxpeii.se pf the others. It is rare, iii- 

 deed, perhaps never, that any single point is 

 found in its highest degree (jf excellence, exce|it 

 nt the expense of some other quality. Thus the 

 taking on flesh rapidly, is incompatible, from the 

 verv nature of the case, with a copious pecrelion 

 of milk; and the deepest and be.-;), ujilkers of 

 the herd, may usually be set down us the most 

 raw honed, n"' '" say worst looking of the whole. 



The reason of this is obvious: the quantity of 

 nutritive matter taken in the lood is of necessity 

 limited, and it is impossible for it to perform two 

 odices, or i'atlier be in two |>laces at once. It 

 cannot go to the formation of Hesh and IJit, and 

 yet he secreted in the liirm of milk. The term 

 best, then, as usually applied, may adnnt of a dif- 

 ferent meaning. Tlie best animal for the grazier 

 or the butcher, is not necc-ssarily the best for the 

 dairyman ; although there are ttivv deep inilkers 

 that will not, when the secretion of milk is sus- 

 pended, take o'l flesh rapidly — a fact which 

 shows the incompatibility of the two. The best 

 animal, or the one which it should be the object 

 of the breeder to piotluce, is the one that com- 

 bines the most valuable qu.dilies, and it is in this 

 sense that the term should be always under- 

 stood. 



The nundier of those who insist that wo are 

 to look to Eiigland,and to the' produce of impor- 

 tations fVoni that country alone, for the improve- 

 ment of our stock, is of course limited. There 

 is something absurd in the idea of replacing the 

 ten millions of our natiye cattle by imported 

 ones, or their progeny, in any reasonable term of 

 years. Besiilcs, bad we the means to make the 

 injportation, tlicy have not the animals for us. 

 Notwithstanding the attention paid to the breed- 

 ing of .-minials in England, the number of the 

 improved animals is still limited ; and though 

 cattle to meet any dentand might be supplieil, 

 such as we should require, or ought to require, 

 coidd not be had. Great changes in the charac- 

 ter of the stock of any coinitry, demand time. 

 It has taken mare than two hundred years since 

 Gov. Winslow introduced the first three heifers 

 and one bull into this comitry, to bring up our 

 stock to its present number. This was in 16"24; 

 and time would enable lis to fill our country with 

 imported stock, were it necessary to \yait for such 

 a consummation. As the question, however, re- 

 lates to present improvement, the idea of de- 

 pending on importation whoHv, must be discard- 

 ed. 



The second position, viz: that we have in our 

 present native herds all the materials necessary 

 for improvement, and that a recurrence to foreign 

 improved breeiisis unnecessary, is fiu' more plau- 

 sible, and has a much greater number of sup- 

 porters, than the one we have just considered. 

 It is argued, and truly, that all the improved 

 breeds are maiie up breeds ; that it is idle to seek 

 for what may be called an original breed; that 

 (he varieties of domestic cattle are depending on 

 clilTinte, ciosses, or perhaps in some instances on 

 accidental circumstances; that the improved cat- 

 tle of England have been bred almost within the 

 niemoiy of U)an, from old varieties already ex- 

 isting there ; that what has been already done, 

 maybe done again; and that nothing but the 

 same jmlgnient in selecting animals to breed 

 from, and the same skill and perseverance in 

 followii,)g.the laws of breeding to their results, is 

 wanting, to produce as valuable stock from our 

 native varieties, as has been produced IVom the 

 native varjeties of Engliiiid. We have purposely 

 stated this argument in its strongest form ; be- 

 cause, while we admit the jiossibility of produ- 

 cing, in this country, improved breeds equal per- 

 haps in value to llio.=.e at present existing in 

 Eniopp, we think it would be the height of folly 

 lo undertake the task, in preference to availing 

 ourselves of the labors and skill of European 

 breeder,*. To make ourselves understood, we 

 will select llie Short Horns or Diirhams, as the 

 breed best known, for the purpose of illiirtra- 

 tion. 



We can trace the Short Horns, as a disiiiict 

 breed, to its originators, Charles and Robert ("ol- 

 lins, some fifty years since. Others, as Berry 

 and Coates, co-operated most eft'ectnally in for- 

 warding the iuiprovement commenced by tl;ei:i ; 

 and within the last twenty years, the number of 

 bfiieders of this slock has inohiplied in every 

 part of England. It canuflt l^e denied that more 

 skill has been .cihihiteiJ, a gyealer acquaintance 

 with the true principles of the im|)rovement of 

 slock acquired, and llie real points that coiistitu:e 

 the vgl.ue of animals more fully developed in 

 this ca.se, than in :my previous instance. Scarce- 

 ly a variety of domestic cattle can be found, from 

 which animals may not hi,' selected, with one or 

 more points as faultless, aiul as well developed, 

 as in the improved stock ; but in most cases, 

 these valupble points must be considered as ac- 



cidental, as experience proves there is no cer- 

 tainty of their being conlinue<l in their offspring. 

 The science of breeding consists in uniting in 

 one animal as many of these valuable propcuties 

 as possible, and rendering them constitutional 

 and permanent, so that they may descend to their 

 progeny, or so that the danger of their loss may 

 be avoided. This is what has been done in the 

 case of the Short Horns. That their excellen- 

 cies are permanent, and fixed in the breed, is 

 proved by their invariably imparting more or 

 less of them to any variety with which they are 

 crossed; that the blemishes and limits occasion- 

 ally to be found in them, are to be considered as 

 accidental, and not inherent in the breed, is 

 proved by the fact that these defects are rarely 

 propagated, or reproduced in their progeny. It 

 has taken at least fifty years to bring up ilie Short 

 Horns to this point of excellence : and there is 

 no probability whatever that any modern skill or 

 knowledge could materially shorten this period 

 in engrailing these valuable qualities iijion the 

 native slock of this country, by simple selection 

 and breeding from our varieties alone. We 

 must, then, to raise up an American breed from 

 native stock only, condfming as many valuable 

 qualities as the Short Horns at present possess, 

 employ some fifty years, with much labor ami 

 money, and then finrl ourselves at precisely the 

 point of improvement where the English breed- 

 ers now are. We think, then, that the advocates 

 of an exclusive American breed, or one produced 

 from our native varieties, without reference to 

 Ibieign stock, are guilty of as great an absurdity 

 as those who vvould rely on imported stock only, 

 to replace with an improved stock our native 

 herds. 



The third c«ur.se for iinlirovement is that of 

 those who believe that the best way is, to obtain 

 the best and highest bred animals liom abroad, 

 when suidi can be procured, and breed them lu 

 our best and choicest native stock, having refer- 

 ence, in our selection of animals, to those points 

 we consider most desirable in stock, or in which, 

 perhaps, the imported are the most deficient. 

 And this is the method to which we give a de- 

 cided preference, and to which, it is believed, v^e 

 must resort and adhere, before any essential 

 change in the character of our stock, generally, 

 will be effected. 



There are some who seem to suppose that ue 

 are to regard the high bred imjipited animals a3 

 perfect, and incapable, by any skill of br(;eding, 

 of further improvement. No breeder, however, 

 who has aijy knowledge of his prolession, will 

 view the matler in that light. He .'^ees in the 

 Short Horns, for instance, animals very superior 

 lo the common stock of the country; animals 

 tiiat combine a far greater number of valuable 

 points, and are of consequence a decided im- 

 provement upon any native breed; but he is far 

 IVom looking on them or any other breed of Cat- 

 tle as perfect, or incapable of furtlier improve- 

 ment. On the contrary, he sees in these im- 

 proved breeds, and these fine imported animals, 

 llje basis of still greater impro.vements ; he sees 

 in them, what the lal)pr of the most skilful and 

 cai'eful ill Engl.md have taken fifty years lo ac- 

 complish; aiul instead of going hack lo the point 

 from vvliich they started, be intends to make the 

 highest vantage ground they have leached liis 

 stalling jioint in the career of further progress 

 and improvement. 



In breeding from foreign improved ptock, It is 

 necessary the American farmer or breeder should 

 pay |iarticular atlention to the purity of blood, 

 and the predominating qualities of the animal. 

 The principal yalue of any improvement in ani- 

 mals, consists in its permanency ; indeed, this 

 quality is one of the main tliinjis that marks the 

 difference between ihe high bred imporleil ani- 

 mal and some few of our native stock, if the 

 improvement is not permanent; if the valuable 

 qiialilies have not become fixed and constitu- 

 tional, there is no secuiily that they will be im- 

 parted to the piogeny, or thai Ihe high raised 

 liopes of the breeder may not end in bitter dis- 

 .appointment. It is in determining this question 

 of blood, that ihe pedijiiee becomes iniporlant ; 

 and a i-pference to iho Herd Book will infmni the 

 l;reeder whether he may depend upon stock |)0S- 

 sessing the qiiabties of tlieii- parents, or leave it 

 to he determined by the event -.vhelher that stock 

 shall possess most of the quaiili(-s of the Shorf 

 Horn or the scrub. In regard to the qiialilies of 



