118 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



race, the offspring will be half breed; they farther 

 understand, that, by the union of this half-hreed 

 heifer with the same father, or with another pure 

 Short Horn, a progeny three quarters blood will be 

 produced ; but there are many who do not under- 

 stand, or, rather, never have inquired, how it is that 

 they have not pure blood in the third or fourth gen- 

 eration. It is at these points of gradation in breed- 

 ing that interested or dishonest dealers in animals 

 l^egin to take advantage of the ignorance or inatten- 

 tion in farmers to which we have alluded ; and 

 many an animal is palmed off for good blood that a 

 little care or examination would show to have small- 

 pretensions to such a distinction. Pure blood is 

 talked about loudly, when perhaps neither the buyer 

 •lor seller comprehends the real proportion of pure 

 olood existing in the animal. 



All acknowledge the principle, that from the union 

 of two individuals of different breeds, one pure blood 

 and the other common, half-blooded animals will be 

 the result. From this starting point a scale may be 

 drawn, by which we may determine the degree of 

 pure blood that any generation, however distant, 

 will possess, or the proportional quantity of pure 

 and common blood which flows in the veins of a 

 bull or horse whose progeny is known. Recourse 

 to figures and examples will perhaps make this more 

 plain ; and we shall for this purpose avail ourselves 

 of the tables prepared by Count Montendre for the 

 French sporting paper Le Journal des Haras. 



We will, for example, take one of Mr. Allen's or 

 Mr. Rotch's beautiful Improved Short Horn bulls, 

 and, as he is of pure blood, we will call him A., ex- 

 pressed in figures by 1. The cow shall be of the 

 common native kind, and called B., and her value in 

 blood 0. The calf produced by the union of these 

 two is characterized by the letter C, and is com- 

 posed half of the father and half of the mother, deci- 



