66 ON BULLS. 



breeding stock as an art, is known among as ; and the man •who has 

 the credit of being a stock-raiser, generally gets it because he has a 

 greater number of half starved calves than his neighbors, and in 

 whose stock there are as many varieties of shape and color, as there 

 were in the stock of Jacob, when he separated from his father-in-law. 

 Every imported bull, that happens to come in his neighborhood, no 

 matter what his blood, nor what the blood of his cow — is crossed 

 with his stock. Now although crossing in any way is preferable to 

 breeding in and in, yet this indiscriminate crossing will never, to any 

 extent, improve our stock. If we get a good cow, it is the result of 

 accident — mere chance. Experience so far, has shown that import- 

 ations from abroad, and the crossing with them, have in no way ben- 

 efitted our milch cows. They may have furnished us better oxen in 

 some respects ; but they have not yet helped us to any more butter 

 and cheese. 



Your committee are of opinion, that the only successful mode of 

 improving our stock, is by a judicious, systematic, enlightened at- 

 tempt, Avhich has for its basis the native stock of the country. And 

 it is only by an enlarged view of this, or any other matter connected 

 with nature, that we can arrive at the truth. The advantage of 

 crossing has been spoken of; but let it be remembered, that if you 

 expect good from it, you must bring together animals, not nearly re- 

 lated, but of the same breed. Nature is uniform in her operations. 

 "Wild animals of a particular breed are generally of the same shape 

 and color. Flowers resemble each other. But by man's interven- 

 tion, the beast, the bird, the flower, are made to assume new colors 

 and forms. If these changes are of value, they must be the result 

 of sound judgment, enlarged views, enlightened experience, and a 

 complete knowledge of the principles upon which nature operates. 



Until these are attained, you may spend money, you may import 

 stock, you may offer premiums, and no more benefit be derived from 

 it, than has been from what has been done by this and other societies 

 for the last thirty years. We have no better cows now than we had 

 then — we have no larger proportion of them — and in our breeding, 

 whether or not the calf which we raise, will make a good cow, or be 

 good for nothing, is all mere chance. 



The State Society have, with a zeal worth_y of imitation, in most 

 respects, made efforts to improve the stock of the country. But has 

 that zeal been entirely according to knowledge ? Can they put their 



