108 



^l)e Jfarmcv's ^Hinatijiu l'»i6itor. 



tlie imported Hiiinials from wliiiili we expect im- 

 provetrieiit to our lieiils, it appears to us tliat 

 there are two points liiat have heeii soiiiLtiines 

 overlooked in inakini oin- selections. We have 

 not paid ailention enough to their inilkinu; pro- 

 perties, or llieir ahiliiy and aptitude to lalirir. 

 The okl Short Horns" were the hest milking 

 breed in Kuitland— a repntaiion which, as a 

 whole, certainly dons not lielong to the i(n|»-oved 

 breeds. That ihi;rs are some superior milkers 

 nmonj; them, is notorious; and that milking deep 

 miirht be made one of the peculiar characteris- 

 tics of the breed, no well informed breeder 

 doubts. We very much questioii, however, wheth- 

 er there is at this lime in Europe or in the United 

 States, a herd of om/ improved stock. Short 

 Horns, Herefords or Devons, from which twenty- 

 five cows can he selected, that would produce as 

 inueh butter and cheese as the twenty-live native 

 cows mentioned at paL'e 79 of the May Cultiva- 

 tor, or that from ihs twelve native cows men- 

 tioned at page 85 of the same nmnber.* The 

 reason is a plaiii one; olher qualities thaii a deep 

 milking have been principally regarded by their 

 breeders; beef, and not milk, has been the great 

 object. Tliat deep milking can easily be bred 

 into tliem. no one questions: and this we believe 

 is (me of the points that calls for immediate at- 

 tention. Another jinint tliat has not been suffi- 

 ciently attended to, is aptitude to labor. In this 

 comitry, very few instances can he found in 

 which high bred animals have been put to the 

 test of labor; luit in England, Short Horn bul- 

 locks have been sid)iected to the yoke, and, un- 

 less we are misinformeil, were found iu this re- 

 spect inferior to the Devjns or the Hereford*, 

 indeed, the forms of the animals ihemseU'es, 

 indicative of diminished activii<> and power of 

 locomotion, would lead the observer to expect 

 such a result ; and by some it may be considered 

 doubtful whether the aptitude to labor can l)e 

 engrafted on this stocl;, unless at the expense of 

 other more important and valuable qualities. 



A question, most important to the agriculuiral 

 interests of the country, is not milrefinenily ask- 

 ed, snrl it is desirable it sliould be correctly an- 

 swered ; that question is, how can the desired 

 im|>rovements be ttiost cerlaini}' and expeditious- 

 ly made? On this point, we are fortunately not 

 left to theory alone; but we have ihe result of 

 uianv experiments, which w.jidd seem to be de- 

 cisive of the n.'aiter. In all crosses from a high 

 bred or iiiade up stock, with iiderior breeds, there 

 is a constant and powerful tendem-y to deteriora- 

 tion. Habit is hardly equal to a contest with 

 nature ; iinphinled (pialiiieg, mdess careluliy 

 guarded, are apt to disap()pnr before the power- 

 ful tendencies of natural and cou.'titutional ones: 

 ai!<l if is to prevent this degeiteracy, to retain all 

 the old qualities that are valuable, and add new 

 ones that rre desirable, ih.it requires all lbs skill 

 «nd caution of the breeder. Man hims^lt", stud- 

 ied physiologically, has fm-ni.'.he^ some of the 

 ni"!-"t useful lessons which can be oiTer( d for the 

 ;;uidance of the modern breeders of aiiimals. 



Our opinion as to liie true course to be flillow- 

 ed, und the one which we doubt not v.'ill be 

 penerally adopted, is, fur the breeder to select a 

 fidl bred bull of the kind preferred, possessing 

 tlioso qnaiiti.'S ui;jst desii-able, or indicating that 

 tiiey are inlifieut iii flie breed, .^inch is de- 

 pending on the proper selection of the male, for 

 it is he that stamps most indelibly his character 

 on the progeny. .Ascertain whether the unini ds 

 from which he is descended, ilie particular fami- 

 ly, we mean, are noted for any particular quali- 

 ty, and what licit may be. In the same breed, 

 jind of equal [luriliuud' idood, animals may be 

 found in v.iiich t!;e^i-edondnating quality differs 

 essentially. Aptitude to fatten, deej) milking, 

 excelleiice in the yoke, kind handliug, &c. &c. 

 may not be prominent in all aiiimals of a breed ; 

 and it is for the breeder to select with reference 

 to the qualiiies, whet'ier of form or color, most 

 desirable. Having secured bulls of undeniable 

 excellence, let the breeder next select from ids 

 ■native stock the best cows he possesses, or thtit 

 f'Caij bi^ procured — those in which tlie qualities of 

 - easy t'eeiling, deep milking and kind dispositions 

 < appear to be the most strongly marked and fixed, 

 nnd lirecd from such cows otWy, if he hopes to 



,^Ji> t!i(? d.iiry of 25 cows tr.d proitact ppr cow \ras .013! 

 lljs..or,ljuiter and cheese ; and .of tl.e dairy of,i2.ieow3 

 the product per head was 533J lbs. In iKHa cilBs.the 

 : fows liW DJistur'e and liay-oiily.' ' 'Ottii rs 



efTL-el a permanent improvement in his stock. 

 We have never known ail instance in which 

 such a cross did not at once mark and change 

 the character of a stock for the better. The 

 cattle shows and fairs of oiir country prove that 

 these half liloods are far superior to the native 

 stock, in every case, where ordinary attention has 

 been paid to seh-ction in breeding, and that in 

 many instances they have approximated in Ibrm 

 mill value to the pure blood progenitor. In this 

 Jirsl cross, we have rarely known the farmer or 

 breeder to be disajipointed ; it is in the next and 

 succeeding steps in the progress, from which 

 disappointment has arisen, and this has been oc- 

 casioned by causes perfectly easy to explain. 

 How oflen have we beard it said, "our first 

 calves ^vfre almost equal to the imported bull, 

 hut now they are no heller than old tHshioned 

 .slock." And this was true; for they were noth- 

 ing but the ohl stock. Let it be remembereil 

 that breeding from I'rosses, without recurrence 

 to [)\iye blood always degenerates; but where the 

 first cross or hall' blooil is bred to a full blond, a 

 half blood heifer, to a pure blood hull for in- 

 stance, improvement is sm-e to follow. The 

 course pursued by many, perhaps most of our 

 farmers, is this: a native i*ow is bred to a pure 

 short horn, and the jirogeny is a fine bull call; 

 Tiiis calf, a half blood, is u.sed for a bull with 

 his herd of native cows, and the farmer is sur- 

 prised to find such a falling off iu the qualities 

 of his calves from that of their sires. Now the 

 true course would be, if the progeny in the first 

 instanc-e was a bull calf, to fit him for the yoke 

 or the shambles ; if a heifer, to breed her to a 

 pure blood bull, und a good calf might be con- 

 sidered certain. By this recnnence to pure 

 blood, the stock will be constantly rising; by 

 breeding fiom crosses without such a recurrence, 

 it will be as certainly sinking. By procee<iing in 

 the way here [lointed onl, using full blood bulls 

 and the best native cows, our stock as a whole 

 would be rapidly irniiroving, and the way pre- 

 pared fur ail advance on any of the present 

 breeds. 



But it may be doii'.ited by some, whellier any 

 ini)irovemeiU on the best of the present hitiii 

 bred ca,ule, is possible, and the idea of it to be 

 scouted as an absurdity. " What," it may be 

 said, "talk of improving a breed by crossins 

 them with those still lower in the scale.'" We 

 answer yes, and hope to show there is nothing 

 chimerical in the plan. For illustration, we will 

 again refer to the Short Horns, as unquestiidinbly 

 at the head of the improved hreed.-^. Breeders 

 have enumerated i|ll great iiunibcr of points as 

 going to make a perfect animal; to make one 

 absolutely perfect, we will supjiose that 30 enn- 

 meraterl qnaliHcation.s are requisite; that the 

 Stiorl Horns, as approaching ihe nearest to this 

 slandard. possess 20 of the desired qualiiies; and 

 the oiher varieties or breeds in a descending 

 ratio down to our native stock, which may be 

 put as posse.-^si;ig but five of the.se requisites. 

 The question is, can an arduial possessing; 20 

 good iiiiints, be improved by one possessing onlv 

 10 or 5? We answer yes, if Ihe one posse.sslng 

 30 is ileficiL'Ut ill any of the points po,-sesscd by 

 the lowest, or by 5. 20 intiy be deficient iu liar- 

 dihooii or l!ie p-owcr of enduring our seasons; 

 in milking [iroperties; adiqitation to labor; qua- 

 lity of flesh; or somo other point or ]>oinls, pos- 

 sessed iu'a remarkiible degree by 5; and this de- 

 ficiency remedied by a skilful cro.ss wiili .">, which 

 shall cngrali and fix ihe valuable point on 20, 

 would make if 91, or furnish a decided advance 

 towards animal perfection. 



The opinions we have advanced in this paper, 

 are not to be considered as mere theory alone; 

 experiment has in a great degree demonstraicd 

 their correctness. At our cattle shows, cro.sses 

 of the improved breeds with our native cattle, 

 have been exhibited, which have placed beyomi 

 a doubt the i)o.«sibdity of rapidly improving our 

 stock iu this way, und by their superior (pialiiios 

 fnriTished every incentive to the undertaking. 

 But there must be no breeding downwards; eve- 

 ry cross must be upwards both iti blood and in 

 desired qualities. We do not say that any ani 

 mals have yet been produced equal to the finest 

 of the improved breeds, but we h.=;lieve some 

 might be pointed out tliat would not suiTer ma- 

 terially in a comparison with a great majority of 

 our ifiiported animal.--, for all the ordinary pur- 

 poses of the farmer. 



Believing as we do, that it is to skilfiil crossing 

 of the improved pure stocks with our best native 

 animals, we are to look for the earliest as well as 

 the permanent iuiiirovemeut of onr herds, and 

 the liuihling up of an American breed worthy of 

 the name, the importance of introducing and 

 preserving animals which shall serve as the basi.'i 

 of this improvement, fin-ces itself upon us at 

 once. It is to the pure blood stock already 

 among us, or which may be introduced, that we 

 must mainly look ; and every precaution should 

 be used by the breedeis of such stjck, and every 

 eflfort used not only to keep ihein pure, but to 

 provide lor their further advance by skilful breed- 

 ing, and by the infusion of new blood occasion- 

 ally, to prevent the entijebrmg and degenerating 

 effects of too close in ami in breeding. The 

 breeders of improved stock can scarcely attaidi 

 too much iuiporlaiice to [ledigree, asiii that alone 

 have they proof of the endurance of the valu- 

 able qualities of the animals they breed ; and the 

 confidence of the public once shaken on that 

 point, or any deception practiced, will be most 

 unfortunate, as seriously lending to check the 

 improvement of domestic slock. Men who do 

 not look at the subject in all its bearings, are 

 sonielitnes beard to complain of the prices paid 

 fur imporied or improved animals, and denounce 

 all efforts at improvement as speculation, or mere 

 money making. We, on the contrary, view the 

 improvement of onr dtimestic stock of all kinds, 

 as an aff nr of national importance, and think the 

 public spiritei! individuals engaged iu the busi- 

 ness are richly deserving the approval and the 

 thanks of the agricultural public. If they are 

 well |iaid for their labors in the cause of iin- 

 prove.'iieut, we shall rejoice at it most sincerely ; 

 but we have yet to learn that any American 

 breeder lias found his purse grow inconveniently 

 heavy, in cimseqnence of his callle sales. The 

 men who add as efficienilyto the national wealth 

 a* they do, are, to say the least, entitled to their 

 share. 



The Bright Poker. — The widow Mugfje-' 

 ridge, in her best room, bad two pokers. The 

 one was black and somewhat bent, the other 

 shone like a ray of summer light — it was efful- 

 gent, spcckless steel. Both pokers stood at the 

 same fire-place. " Wiiat I" you ask, "and did Ihe 

 widow i\lnggeridge stir the fire with both r" 

 Certainly not. Was a coal to be cracked — llie 

 black poker cracked jt ; did she want a rousing 

 fire — the black poker was plunged relenllessly 

 into the burning mass to stir up tlie sleeping 

 Vulcan; was a tea-kettle to be accommodated 

 to the coals — the black poker supported it. 

 ".\nd what," niethinks you say, "did the bright 

 poker?" I answer, nothing, save to stand and 

 glisten at the fireside — i;s black, begrimed com- 

 panion )ioking, raking, burning, banging, doing 

 all the sweating work. As lor the bright poker, 

 that was a consecrated thing. Never did Mrs. 

 Muggcridge so to Hackney for a week to visit 

 her rclati<!ns, that the bright poker was not re- 

 moved from the grate, tind carefully swathed in 

 oil flannel, and awaited in greasy repose the re- 

 turn of iiK mistress. Then, oiice^ more, in glist- 

 ening idlenes.s, would it lounge nqiong shovel 

 and toiigs ; the jetty slave, the black pnkcr, 

 working until it was worked to the stump, at last 

 to be flung aside for vile old iron ! One dozen 

 black poker.s did the bright poker Fee out; and 

 to this day — doins nothiug — it stands lustron.s 

 and inactive! My smi, such is life. When you 

 enter the world, make up all yofir energies to 

 become — A B:is:ht Poker. — Punch. 



Bassiino Beet. 



In compliance with the request of the Editors 

 of the Cnhivator, I can inform Ihcm that 1 have 

 cultivated this beet for the two pn-n yea?\s, and 

 consider it decidedly the best beet lor table use 

 which i know. The roots are as flat as the flat 

 Norfolk lurnep, and grow as large; often eight 

 inclies in diameter on fertile sail. They grov.' 

 mostly above ground, and are consequently easi- 

 ly gathered. They suffer less by being crowded 

 than any other root I am acquainted with, o('teiiJ| 

 attaining considerable size when growing in ac-'W 

 tual contact As au ear!)/ beet, it is very excel- 

 lent ; and it may prove one of the best field crops 

 we can cultivate. Sjiccimens were exhibited at 

 the Slate Fair at Albanv. J. J. T. 



Macj'don. A'. Y., 1843. 



^ — Alhany Cultivator. 



