MASS. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 507 



ened farmers, improved stock, improvements in agriculture, 

 and, as its natural consequence, a great augmentation of the 

 value of our farms. 



The question obviously suggested is, how shall this im- 

 provement in cattle be attained ? We answer, bv selecting ju- 

 diciously, and with great care, your breeding animals. It will 

 not suffice that you have a good cow for this purpose, the bull 

 must also possess the requisite qualities; for it is to him, in the 

 opinion of many of the most enlightened breeders in England, 

 that we are to look, more than to the dam, for an improvement 

 in the progeny. In breeding and rearing cattle, three great ob- 

 jects are sought to be attained — cows for their milk, oxen for 

 the yoke, and when they cease to be valuable for these pur- 

 poses, to be devoted to the shambles. 



The remark is common, " why not select the best of our na- 

 tive cattle to effect these purposes ?" We reply, that the sound 

 principle that " like begets like," cannot be relied upon in their 

 produce. They greatly vary in their symmetry and other char- 

 acteristics ; their blood has not become inherent in them, by a 

 long course of breeding in a direct line from select animals, 

 and hence little reliance can be placed upon the progeny thus 

 bred. When we have races of cattle of greatly improved 

 breeds, already within the reach of all, and some of them bred 

 in a direct line for more than seventy years, why is it needful 

 to discuss this subject? Is there an intelligent breeder of cattle 

 who will affirm that a comparison can be instituted, except to 

 their disadvantage, between the native cattle of the last cen- 

 tury, (and there is, unfortunately, too much of their blood still 

 remaining,) and the beautiful and highly bred Short-horns and 

 Devons of the present day? 



The topics which we here discuss, and our mode of treating 

 them, are not new ; we claim for them not originality, yet they 

 cannot too often, nor with too much force, be impressed upon 

 the breeders of cattle. In a long course of breeding, in a direct 

 line, no intelligent breeder will resist the conclusion, whether 

 it be in cattle, horses, sheep, or swine, that the characteristics 

 of the sires and dams will be imparted to their progeny. 

 Breeding from close affinities should be avoided, for the result 



