16 



Choice Rules in Stock-Breeding. 



Vol. VI. 



ing their growth, have their bones often dis- 

 proportionately large. A compact, round- 

 made body, a deep, full chest, a broad loin, 

 full flank and straight back, a small head and 

 clean chaps, with fine tapering neck, limbs 

 and bones not coarse and large, a soft but not 

 thick skin, with soft and iine hair, are amongst 

 the chief marks of a good kind. 



" It has been generally supposed, that the 

 breed of animals is improved by the largest 

 males: this opinion has done considerable 

 mischief, and probably would have done more, 

 if it had not been counteracted by the desire 

 of selecting animals of the best form and pro- 

 portions, which are rarely to be met with in 

 those of the largest size; experience has 

 proved that crossing has only succeeded, in 

 an eminent degree, in those instances in 

 which the females were larger than in the 

 usual proportion of females to males, and that 

 it has generally failed when the males were 

 disproportionately large. If a well-formed 

 lar^e buck be put to small ewes, the lambs 

 will not be so well shaped as their parent; 

 but if a good S7nall buck be put to larger 

 ewes, the lambs will be of an improved form: 

 the improvement depends on this principle, 

 that the power of the female to supply her 

 offspring with nourishment, is in proportion 

 to her size and to the power of nourishing 

 herself from the excellence of her constitu- 

 tion. The size of tiie fojtus is generally in 

 I)roportion to that of the female parent, and 

 therefore, when she is disproportionately 

 small, the quantity of nourishment is dispro- 

 portionately small, and her offspring has all 

 the disproportions of a starveling: but when 

 tiie female, from her size and good constitu- 

 tion, is more adequate to the nourishment of 

 a fa'tus of a male smaller than herself, the 

 growth will be proportionately larger; the 

 larger female has also a greater quantity of 

 milk, and her offspring is more abundantly 

 supplied with nourishment after birth. To 

 produce the most perfeclly-ibrmed animal, 

 abundant nourishment is necessary from the 

 earliest period of its existence, until its growth 

 id complete. 



"To obtain animals with large lungs, cross- 

 ing is the most expeditious method, because 

 well-formed females may be selected from a 

 variety of a large size, to be put to a well- 

 tbrmed male that is rather smaller ; — by such 

 a mode of crossing, the lungs and heart be- 

 come larger in consequence of a peculiarity 

 in the circulation of the fuHus, which causes 

 a larger proportion of the blood, under such 

 circumstances, to be distributed to the lungs 

 than to other parts of the body, and as the 

 shape and size of the chest depend upon that 

 of the lungs, hence arises the remarkably 

 large chest, which is produced by crossing 

 with females that are larger than the males: 



but this practice must be limited, for it may 

 be carried to such an extent that the bulk of 

 the body might be so disproportioned to the 

 size of the limbs, as to prevent the animal 

 from moving with sufficient facility, so that, 

 where activity is required, this practice must 

 not be extended so far as in those which are 

 intended for the food of man. The kinds of 

 animals selected for cross-breeding ought 

 never to be of very different habits and sizes, 

 for, notwithstanding the confessed advantages 

 derived from cross-breeding, yet, great or 

 sudden changes are highly improper, that 

 having often been found injurious to the 

 health and character of the stock : the use of 

 bucks of the pure Dishley or Bakewell stock 

 has, with several coarse flocks of sheep, been 

 attended with no sensible advantage, owing 

 to this cause, the characters and habits of 

 the breeds being so widely dissimilar. When- 

 ever, then, cross-breeding is attempted, care 

 ought always to be taken to do it gradually, 

 and to rear the progeny in a proper manner ; 

 and when the matching is conducted pro- 

 gressively, and with due attention to the di- 

 versity of habit in the animals, it succeeds 

 well; the chief art being, to begin gradually 

 at first, and in process of time, as the blood 

 of one family is diminished, that of the other 

 will be increased, till improvement to the de- 

 gree wished for be attained by gradual ap- 

 proximation, 



"The great improvement of the breed of 

 horses in England arose from crossing with 

 those diminutive stallions, Barbs and Arabi- 

 ans; and the introduction of Flemish mares 

 was the source of improvement in the larger 

 breed of cart-horses ; the form of the swine 

 has also been greatly improved by crossing 

 with the small Chinese boar: but when it 

 became the fashion in London to drive large 

 bay horses in carriages, the farmers in York- 

 shire put their mares to much larger horses 

 than usual, and thus did infinite mischief to 

 their breed, by producing a race of small- 

 chested, long-legged, large-boned, worthless 

 animals ; and a similar project was adopted 

 in Normandy, for the purpose of enlarging 

 their breed of horses, by the use of the Hol- 

 stein stallion, by which the best breed of 

 horses in France would have been spoiled, 

 had not the farmers discovered their mistake 

 in time, by observing the offspring much in- 

 ferior in form, to that produced by their own 

 horses." A Subscriber. 



How small a portion of our information 

 can be derived from our own experience ! 

 Amongst the most practical, the cheapest, 

 and by far the largest portion of knowledge, 

 must be derived from the information afforded 

 by the experience of others. 



