248 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



male animals, in every class have been, which have done really 

 good service. One single choice Shorthorn animal com- 

 mands a fabulous price, because in his family, more males of 

 great value are produced than in any other ; tlie stand- 

 ard of that family is the highest that has yet been arrived 

 at. Tlie best breeder in Yermont once informed me that in 

 that family of sheep which made themselves most distin- 

 guished during the production of merinos in that State, he 

 destroyed more than ninety-nine out of a hundred of his ram- 

 lambs as entirely unfit to transmit the qualities he valued so 

 highly. 



So it is, my friends, with horses, — like does not produce 

 like in horses. Some horses that have made themselves dis- 

 tinguished for producing animals of great speed, have not 

 been fiist horses themselves. Rysdick's Hambletouian is not 

 what is usually considered a first-class trotting-horse, but his 

 "get " are so remarkable that he enjoys an eminent position 

 in the ranks of those animals that are valuable to the stock- 

 breeder. This was also the case with one of Mr. Hammond's 

 rams. He Avas not a remarkable animal in himself, but his 

 "get" was most valuable. He brouo;ht down from his ances- 

 try, and combined, those qualities which made him a most 

 useful animal to all the sheep-breeders of Vermont. So, 

 whether it is failure or success, like does not produce like ; 

 but external circumstances, in addition to ancestry, throw 

 this rule out of gear continually, to the eye of the observant 

 and thoughtful. 



Now, what do I mean by external circumstances? In the 

 first pla e, the treatment that animals receive from their 

 owners. I do not believe that a violent, unreasonable, cruel, 

 tyrannical master can raise up a good herd of cattle. I do 

 not believe that a man, who, when he enters his stables, 

 treats cattle as if they were mere servants of his to do his 

 bidding, can raise up in those stables a superior class of 

 animals for his own benefit, and the benefit of his neighbors 

 and the agricultural community. I think a calm, steady, 

 high-toned, self-possessed and humane man is the one into 

 whose hands Providence has designed that the great work of 

 reproduction shall be best put ; and not into the hands of the 

 cruel and unreasonble, who have no regard for their animals. 



