126 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



should run with a buck ; yet here it is not uncom- 

 mon to allow double that number. The best cattle 

 the best horses, and the best sheep, will usually be 

 found in the hands of breeders who do not overtask 

 their males, or allow them to commence the work 

 of procreation too early. There is probably no race 

 or breed of animals so faultless as to render it proper 

 to breed from any one of the race without selection. 

 The Improved Short Horn approaches nearer that 

 standard of excellence than any others ; but obser- 

 vation and experience show that even here there is 

 ample room for choice, and for careful, judicious se- 

 lection. Animals are not unfrequently selected for 

 breeders when so young that no correct judgment 

 can be formed respecting them. Those that come 

 to maturity early may be so chosen with safety ; 

 but a colt or a calf cannot be confidently decided on 

 until two or three years old. The colt or the calf 

 that gets the most milk while running with the 

 mother will be usually considered the best, but, not 

 unfrequently, erroneously. The cow does not come 

 to maturity before her fourth or fifth year, and the 

 horse still later ; and to decide on the milking qual- 

 ities of the first while suckling the first calf, or on 

 the form and spirit of the last, while they are yet 

 undeveloped, is most absurd . 



