1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



419 



Durham heifers which were obtained at q lite 

 a high price. A bull was bought in New 

 York, of the Vail stock, and f i om this begin- 

 ning a herd of great excellence has been bred, 

 and has received premiums as pure blood 

 Short-horns." 



Now, in each case above referred to, what 

 has this writer done but give pedigrees of 

 Hall's and Cleveland's herds, — the best that 

 c.n be given without their having been re- 

 corded in the herd-book ? 



If there is no importance in pedigrees, why 

 take so much pains to trace their origin ? 

 What importance is it where Mr. Hall got his 

 Devons, or Mr. Cleveland got his Short-horns ? 

 Or what matter is it whether these men have 

 taken great care to prevent deterioration, if 

 excellence of animals only is to be consid- 

 ered ? 



'Is not the pains- taking by which these 

 have been produced entitled to encourage- 

 ment?" as.ks "Z. E. J." Most certainly it 

 is. This very pains-taking con>ists greatly in 

 knowing "what animal begot a certain other 

 animal ;" and naming and recording are the 

 only means by which these facts can be re- 

 membered and handed down from one gen- 

 eration to another, or passed from one pro- 

 prietor to another. 



So long as Mr. Hall and Mr. Cleveland live 

 and can remember the origin of their stock, 

 and their several and numerous purchasers 

 can keep the run of their animals, very well ; 

 but when they cannot, what then ? Will not 

 subsequent purchasers wish to know the origin 

 of their animals, as Mr. H. and Mr. C. have 

 known.'* It is true that "eleven years ago 

 there was less regard paid to herd-book pedi- 

 grees" than now ; for then, to a certain ex- 

 tent, the memory of man was sufficient. Tne 

 number of pure bred animals, at tnat time, 

 was small, and could be traci:d by their sev- 

 eral o>vners as well as the herds of H, and C. 

 can now be by themselves. 



At the present time pure bred animals have 

 behome so numerous that there is no other 

 way but to record ; and in order that this in- 

 formation may be preserved and disseminated 

 it must be printed, and this constitutes a herd- 

 book pedigree. 



I would like to ask Mr. H. and Mr. C. if 

 they do not mike a memorandum of what bull 

 served a particular cow ; and have they not 

 had occasion to refer to their minutes ? Have 

 they not discovered that some psrticular ani- 

 mal bred better stock than some other animil, 

 and that one animal would impart certain 

 qualities that ano her animal would not? 

 Hdve they not endeavored to recof d that fact, 

 either in their own minds or by writing it? 

 And what is all this but a herd-book of their 

 own.** 



Herein consists the great importance of a 

 herd- book pedigree. Had Mr. H. and Mr. 

 C. recorded their animals in a public herd- 

 book 1 should have been enabled to learn 



their pedigrees without waiting for "Z E. J." 

 to communicate it through the New England 

 Farmer ; a very good medium I admit, but 

 hardly equal to the American Herd-book for 

 the preservation of pedigrees and the conven- 

 ience of reference. 



Now I have recently bought thorough-bred 

 Short-horns, in company with Messrs. Rusa 

 and Crafts ; and, like Mr. Cleveland, we went 

 to Kentucky after them and "took great pains 

 to get pure-blooded ttook," and we found 

 that the best way to get at the most reliable 

 history or pedigree of the several animals we 

 bought was to go to known breeders, as I 

 have no doubt Mr. Cleveland did, and get the 

 best account or pedigree of the animals se- 

 lected we could ; and we found that, at this 

 later day, the most reliable history or pedi- 

 gree was contained in the herd-book, — conse- 

 quently we bought herd-book animals ; and 

 the result is we can impart this information 

 through the herd- book much more conven- 

 iently than by any other method. 



N. B. Safford. 

 White Biver Junction, Vt., Sept., 1869. 



PHICES FOB, THE YEAR 1870. 



A Central Illinois correspondent of the 

 Country Gentleman, who is occasionally more 

 confident than correct in his predictions of 

 future events, believes that for certain articles 

 of food prices for 1870 threaten to be higher 

 than they ever have been. "I refer more es- 

 pecially to corn, to beef and pork, and the 

 products of both. No. 1 beef at IOl;. a pound 

 gross, on the hoof, hogs at 12 and 13c. and 

 corn at $1, at first hand:? in Illinois, may seem 

 enormous prices ; and so they are. But it 

 looks to me as if every article of these would 

 be from 20 to 25 per cent, higher between 

 this time and a year. The Alexanders, at 

 Broadlands, in this county, have 5000 acres 

 pretty fair corn, say 3.000 of good corn, and 

 after extensive inquiry and observation, I un- 

 derstand they have concluded not to f^ed, but 

 to sell it, since there can be no possible protit 

 in feeding 75c. corn ; and they believe they 

 can realize that price for their corn crop at 

 home. The causes of these high prices are 

 not alone that a short corn crop in 1868 has 

 been followed by a shorter one in 1869 ; we 

 have built railroads and stimulated manufac- 

 tures to such an extent that they are eating us 

 up. mHow me to repeat and repeat, for the 

 information and guidance of the farmers of 

 the country, that while railroads stimulate and 

 increase production, they stimulate and in- 

 crease consumption to a much greater degree. 

 Hence, though there may be exceptions now 

 and then, the gradual and certain rise of all 

 agricultural productions, I will say for the 

 next ten years, is as sure as sunrise." 



— Mr. Jerry Miles, of Fairfield, Vt., is the pos- 

 sessor of a cow that is twenty -nine years of age, 

 and has given milk every season up to last winter. 



