No. 1. 



Choice Rules in Stock-Breeding, 



15 



When cattle go to a spring to drink, espe- 

 cially if the snow is deep, there will gene- 

 rally be great difficulty in reaching the water 

 on account of the bank of snow and ice, with- 

 out stepping into it, which cattle are loth to 

 do if they can help it; many watering places 

 are so steep, that cattle are compelled to go 

 down on their knees before they can reach it, 

 and even then, they obtain it with the great- 

 est difficulty. The cattle on many farms are 

 obliged to travel from one-fourth to half a 

 mile for water, and when they arrive at the 

 spot, it is often only to be obtained by them 

 through a hole cut in the ice, perhaps from a 

 foot to eighteen inches in thickness. The 

 amount of manure which is dropped and lost 

 on such occasions is very considerable, and 

 much of it is washed down by the rains into 

 the hole at which they are doomed to drink, 

 where it forms a coffee-coloured beverage, 

 awful to behold. Every good farmer will 

 esteem this a matter of no light importance, 

 considering that all the manure ought to be 

 saved, and calculating that the food of cattle 

 might as properly be wasted as the food of 

 plants. It has been thought that the exer- 

 cise of going to water at a considerable dis- 

 tance, is advantageous in preventing the hoof- 

 ail in cattle; but it is much more likely that 

 this disorder often arises from the filth in wet 

 weather, and freezing of the feet in very se- 

 vere weather, to which they are exposed in 

 their walks to the spring. If cattle are kept 

 in well-sheltered yards with sheds for their 

 protection, with uninterrupted access to good 

 water, plenty of salt and warm beds of dry 

 straw, it would not be too much to promise 

 that they will remain free from the hoof-ail 

 and every other " ail" of which we have so 

 much complaint. There is a strong preju- 

 dice against wells for the supply of water in 

 cattle yards, and there is a much stronger 

 prejudice against the labour of pumping the 

 water for them ; but to an industrious man, 

 the " prejudice" of a desire to furnish his cat- 

 tle with a clean and wholesome beverage, 

 cool in the summer and warm in the winter, 

 will be stronger than either. — Selected. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Choice Rules in Stock- Breeding. 



Mr. Editor, — In perusing a very interest- 

 ing work, entitled " Observations on Domes- 

 tic Animals," by Cline, the great anatomist, 

 I have been struck with the strong and ra- 

 tional mode in which he treats the subject, 

 and cannot but think your readers will feel 

 equal interest in the examination of a system 

 which, in my opinion, carries with it convic- 

 tion ; conceiving that the greatest advantages 

 would accrue from an application of the sci- 

 ence which he promulgates. The work has 



been published more than thirty years, and 

 we are led to wonder that the principles, laid 

 down by one of the first men of the age, have 

 hitherto made so slow a progress amongst the 

 breeders of live stock : with me, there is no 

 question that Bakcwell's success was founded 

 upon the philosophy of this system, and were 

 it carried out, the greatest benefits and most 

 perfect results would no doubt follow its adop- 

 tion in every country, I have long thought 

 that the universal practice of selecting the 

 largest males for the purpose of crossing our 

 breeds of domestic animals, without regard to 

 the size and form of the female, or the nature 

 of the food with which the stock is to be sup- 

 plied and the improved breed supported, was 

 altogether wrong; but had no idea of the ir- 

 rationality of the custom, until I saw it point- 

 ed out in the above work, from which I pro- 

 ceed, with your permission, to make a few 

 extracts for publication in the pages of the 

 Cabinet for our future guidance. Mr. Cline 

 observes: 



" Although the form of domestic animals 

 has been greatly improved by selecting with 

 care those possessed of the best shape for 

 breeding, yet the theory of improvement has 

 not been so well understood, that rules could 

 be laid down for directing the practice in 

 every case; and although the external form 

 has been much studied and the proportions 

 well ascertained, these are but indications of 

 internal structure, — the principles of improv- 

 ing it must, therefore, be founded on a know- 

 ledge of the structure and use of the internal 

 parts; and of these, the lungs are of the first 

 importance; it is on their size and soundness 

 that the strength and health of an animal 

 principally depend, the power of converting 

 food into nourishment being in proportion to 

 their size, an animal with large lungs being 

 capable of converting a given quantity of food 

 into more nourishment than one with smaller 

 lungs, and therefore having a greater aptitude 

 to fatten. The external indications of the 

 size of the lungs are, the form and size of the 

 chest, but a deep chest is not capacious, un- 

 less it be proportionally broad. 



" The pelvis is the cavity formed by the 

 junction of the haunch-bones with the bone 

 of the rump, and it is essential that this cavi- 

 ty should be large and capacious ; its size is 

 indicated by the width of the hips and the 

 breadth of the twist — which is the junction 

 of the thighs — the breadth of the loins being 

 always in proportion to that of the chest and 

 pelvis. The head should be small ; the length 

 of the neck in proportion to the height of the 

 animal ; the muscles and tendons large, the 

 strength of the animal depending more on 

 the muscles or tendons than on the bones: 

 many animals with large bones are still weak, 

 and those that are imperfectly nourished dur 



