20 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



<:frowth of such a quality of beef as is remunerative in the 

 market. He is viewed with a certain degree of dislike in his 

 youth, and is not allowed to reach mature years, through fear, 

 that in his strength, he may repay the insults and injuries 

 received in his weakness. He is purchased for nothing, at a 

 time of life when he is good for nothing ; and sold for nothing, 

 because he is considered to have done all that was expected 

 of him. Nobody thinks of paying much for his services ; and 

 the longer he lives the larger is the account against him, which 

 his owner is eager to settle summarily and finally. 



Now it is this despised animal, which is hurried out of exist- 

 ence before he has had time to develop his own qualities, or to 

 give any mature evidence of what he can transmit, which has 

 the most important part to perform m the business of cattle 

 breeding. It is undoubtedly true that the mferiority or supe- 

 riority of the male, rather than of the female, affects the 

 quality of the offspring. A superior herd can be injured by an 

 inferior bull ; an inferior herd can be improved by a su])erior 

 bull. There is no doubt that the female imparts important 

 qualities to the offspring — perhaps vitality, constitution, the 

 nutritive functions. But all experience goes to prove that we 

 stand a better chance of securing good offspring from a good 

 male and an inferior female, than we do from an inferior male 

 and a superior female. This, in addition to the fact that the 

 male has a larger sphere of operations than the female, shows 

 the vast importance of a careful selection of the former. It 

 seems, moreover, that through the male, the strongest ancestral 

 qualities are transmitted. " Show me the bull's mother," said 

 the Scotchman, when called upon to pass judgment upon his 

 neighbor's newly-purchased animal. 



It was the dam of Hubback, which possessed that remark- 

 able aptitude to fatten, which distinguish the breed of Improved 

 Short-horns. But it was Hubback himself, which transmitted 

 this quality to a long line of descendants, and laid the founda- 

 tion of this remarkable family. It is to Comet, and Red 

 Comet, and Roan Duke, and Swinley, and Cardigan, among 

 cattle ; to Messenger, and Justin Morgan, and Black Hawk, 

 among horses, that we are indebted for the improvements 

 which have been made among these different classes of animals. 

 For it is by them that good ancestral qualities have been trans- 



