46 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



a calf, for which the original outlay was five dollars or two dol- 

 lars, will bring at the same age and on the same keep, more 

 real net profit than another, the original outlay for which was but 

 twenty-five cents, it is certainly for the farmer's interest to pay 

 the larger original outlay, and have the superior animal. Setting 

 all fancy aside, it is merely a question of dollars and cents; but 

 one thing is certain, and that is, that the farmer cannot afford 

 to keep poor stock. It eats as much and requires nearly the 

 same amount of care and attention as stock of the best quality. 

 And it is equally certain, that stock of ever so good a quality, 

 whether grade, " native," or thorough bred, will be sure to 

 deteriorate and sink to the level of poor stock, by neglect and 

 want of proper attention. 



How then are we to improve our stock ? Not surely by indis- 

 criminate crossing, with a total disregard to all well established 

 principles. Not by leaving all the results to chance when they 

 are within our own control by a careful and judicious selection- 

 Two modes of improvement seem to suggest themselves to the 

 mind of the breeder, either of which, apparently, promises good 

 results. The first is to select from among our native cattle, the 

 most perfect animals not known or suspected to be related to 

 any of the well established breeds, and to use them as breeders. 

 This is a mode of improvement, simple enough, if adopted and 

 carried on with animals of any known breed, and indeed it 

 is the only mode of improvement which preserves the purity 

 of blood, but to do it successfully, requires great experience, 

 a good and sure eye for stock, a mind free from prejudice 

 and indefatigable patience and perseverance. It is absolutely 

 necessary also to pay special attention to the calves thus pro- 

 duced, to furnish them at all times, summer and winter, witli 

 an abundant supply of nutritious food, and to regulate their 

 food according to their growth and wants. Few men are to be 

 found willing to undertake the Herculean task, of building up 

 a new breed in this way. An objection meets us at the very 

 outset, which is, that it would require a long series of years to 

 arrive at any satisfactory results, from the fact that no two ani- 

 mals, made up as our " native " cattle are, of such a variety of 

 elements and crosses, could be found sufficiently alike to pro- 

 duce their kind. The principle, that like produces like, may 

 be perfectly true, and in the well known breeds it is not diffi- 



