344 



THE FARMERS' CABINET, 



VOL. I. 



From Dickeon's Live Stock and Cattle Management. 



Principles aud Practices 



IN BREEDING NEAT CATTLE, AND OTHER SORTS 

 OF LIVE STOCK. 



With a view to the improvement of the 

 several breeds and kinds of live stock, differ- 

 ent principles, practices, and systems of man- 

 agement, have been proposed; but those 

 which appear to be the most suitable, cor- 

 rect, and proper for the purpose, to have the 

 greatest foundation in practical experience, 

 and to be the result of the latest and most 

 full inquiry on the subject, are those given by 

 Sir John Sebright, in his valuable letter on 

 " the Art of improving the Breeds of Domes- 

 tic Animals." This work, together with the 

 remarks of several judicious farmers and 

 breeders,who have investigated and explained 

 the principles and practice recommended 

 therein, establish beyond all doubt the follow- 

 ing facts and axioms : 



1. That the males and females, intended 

 to breed together, should be provided with 

 particular attention to the good or bad quali- 

 ties of each or " in reference to each other's 

 merits and defects." 



This is considered essentially necessary, 

 as it is not always found, " by putting the 

 best male to the best female, that the best 

 produce will be obtained;" as should they 

 each of them have a disposition or inclina- 

 tion to the same fault or imperfection, in how- 

 ever slight a degree, it will commonly pre- 

 ponderate and prevail to a much greater in 

 the offspring, and thus decrease their value. 

 The same faults or defects in tiie different 

 sexes are unquestionably to be equally as 

 much avoided and prevented, as the excel- 

 lencies and perfections of them are to be 

 united and combined. 



2. That a breed or variety of any sort of 

 animals may be considered "to be improved, 

 when any desired quality has been uicreased 

 by art, beyond what that quality was in tJie 

 same breed, in a state of nature." 



The increasing the natural good qualities 

 and properties of different breeds and sorts of 

 animals, should be the first consideration of 

 the breeder, such as " the swiftness of the 

 race horse, the propensity to fatten in cattle, 

 and the fine wool in sheep, improvements 

 which have been made in particular varieties 

 of the several different species to which these 

 animals belong." By such means, improved 

 values are given to difterent sorts of animals 

 as live stock. 



3. That after a breed or variety has been 

 rendered, in the above manner, as perfect as 

 it is capable of being made, " what has been 

 produced by art, must be continued by the 

 same means ; for the most improved breeds 

 will £0on return to a state of nature, or per- 



haps defects will arise which did not exist 

 when the breed was in its natural state, un- 

 less the greatest attention is paid to the se- 

 lection of the individuals which are to breed 

 together." 



The same care, nicety and exactness must 

 be bestowed, in keeping up, as in forming th« 

 improvement itself; the smallest inclination 

 or tendency to deviation or imperfection in 

 the stock is to be attended to the instant it 

 begins to make its appearance, in order that 

 it may be counteracted "before it becomes a 

 defect," and be corrected before it has at- 

 tained too high a degree, but at ihe same time 

 without carrying correction too far on the 

 contrary side. 



4. That full and proper regard is not only 

 to be constantly had to the "qualities appa- 

 rent in animals selected for breeding, but to 

 those which have prevailed in the race from 

 which they are descended, as they will al- 

 ways show themselves, sooner or later, in the 

 progeny, it is for this reason that we should 

 not breed from an animal, however excellent, 

 unless we can ascertain it to be what is called 

 well bred ; that is, descended from a race of 

 ancestors which have, through several gene- 

 rations, possessed, in a high degree, the pro- 

 perties which it is our object to obtain." 



It is of the most essential importance, that 

 the animals selected for breeding be not only 

 good in themselves, and capable of being 

 traced to parents which are the most pura 

 and perfect of their kind, but that every in- 

 tervening link in the chain of their ancestry 

 should likewise have been good. 



5. That " if a breed cannot be improved, 

 or even continued in the degree of perfection 

 at which it has already arrived, but by breed- 

 ing from individuals so selected as to correct 

 each other's defects, and by a judicious com- 

 bination of their different properties, a posi- 

 tion that will scarcely be denied, it follows 

 that animals must degenerate by being long 

 bred from the same family, without the inter- 

 mixture of any other blood, or from being 

 what is technically called bred in and in.'" 



Therefore, connecting animals for breed- 

 ing that have too near or close a relation in 

 blood to each other for a length of time should 

 be avoided, though animals of difierent fami- 

 lies of the same sort may often be united 

 with propriety and advantage. 



'G. That " if the original male and female 

 were of different families, by breeding from 

 the mother and the son, and again from the 

 father and the daughter in the same way, 

 two families sufficiently distinct, might, it is 

 supposed, be obtained; for the son is only half 

 of the father's blood, and the produce from 

 the mother and the son will be six parts of 

 the mother and two of the father." 



In this manner of combining them, they 



