348 REARING AND FEEDING OF ANIMALS. 



large size and good feeding properties. He is to consider, indeed, whether he 

 has the means at his command of rearing the larger animals; and if this be so, 

 it will be better that he at once form his stock upon the best model, than run 

 the hazard of wasting time and capital on questionable crosses. 



And it must be regarded as highly important as a mean of improving the 

 live stock of Great Britain, that a breed has been formed, by long-continued 

 selection and care, which may always be resorted to, to effect the purposes re- 

 quired, in the same manner as recourse is had to horses of known pedigree, to 

 communicate their characters to the progeny. In this manner the labours of 

 those who have improved the short-horned breed, have extended far beyond 

 what the original breeders contemplated. They have not only improved a pe- 

 culiar breed, but have furnished the most efficient means that can be used of 

 improving the live-stock of the emire country; and it is to be trusted that the 

 breeders of this class of animals will have encouragement to maintain the cha- 

 racters of the breed with as much care as is used in the case of the race-horse, 

 seeing that it is for a far more important end. 



But having selected the breed, or having fixed on the means to be employed 

 for forming it, a point to be determined is the manner of maintaining or im- 

 proving it, by the selection of good individuals, male and female; for it is to be 

 observed, that it is equally determined, in the case of the ox as of the horse, 

 that the properties of the parents are conveyed to the offspring. The male un- 

 doubtedly acts the principal part in impressing his characters on the young. 

 But ihe form of the female is of the utmost importance; and if we hope to arrive 

 at success in breeding, the form and characters of the female must be no more 

 neglected than those of the male. 



Now we might breed either from animals nearly allied to one another in 

 blood, as brothers and sisters, parents and their offspring, technically termed 

 breeding in-and-in, or from animals of different families. By the latter method 

 are produced animals more hardy and less subject to disease; by the former, 

 we are frequently enabled to produce animals of more delicate form, and greater 

 fattening properties, and above all to give a greater permanence to the charac- 

 ters of the parents in the offspring. It is known, that BAKEWELL and other 

 breeders were enabled, by this system, to give and perpetuate the peculiar cha- 

 racters of their stock. These first improvers, indeed, found the practice to be, 

 to a certain extent, necessary, because they could not resort to the males of 

 other families, without employing inferior animals, and so impairing the pro- 

 perties of their own breed. 



It is to be observed, that the breeding and continuing to breed from animals 

 very near of blood, produces animals which have a greater tendency to arrive 

 at maturity, and to become fat. This seems to result from a tendency to pre- 

 mature age in the animal, which thus more quickly arrives at its maturity, of 

 bone and muscle, and so begins the sooner to secrete fat. 



The system, however, of breed ing from animals near of blood, has its limits. 

 Nature will not be forced too far for our purposes.* It is known that, although 

 this joining of animals closely allied diminishes the size of the bones, and gives 

 a tendency to fatten to the progeny, it renders them also more delicate and sub- 

 ject to diseases. Although, then, this near breeding may be carried to a limited 

 extent between very fine animals, for the purpose of rendering their qualities 

 permanent in the offspring, we do a violence to nature when we carry it too 

 far. The progeny, along with their early maturity and aptitude to fatten, be- 

 come feeble; the cows cease to secrete milk in sufficient quantity to nourish 

 their young; and the males lose their masculine characters, and become inca- 

 pable of propagating their race. 



When, therefore, the stock of any farmer has become too nearly allied, he 

 ought not to fail to change his males, and procure the best of the same breed. 

 This is essential to preserve the health of the stock for any time. Great losses 

 have been sustained by breeders who have carried the system of close breeding 

 too far, with the design of pushing the improvement of their breed to its limits. 



A character of a breed not to be neglected, is size of the individuals. Al- 

 though large animals consume more food than small animals of the same 

 species, yet they do not consume food in proportion to their greater size; and 

 hence the benefit of rearing the larger animals, if the natural or acquired pro- 



