262 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. 



no milk in the plenitude of good pasturage, or stall-feeding. But her 

 produce will show equally well, with the same care and keeping, (if 

 that produce be devoted solely to flesh purposes,) as the progeny of 

 the other and fleshier one. 



In a past notice we have tried to give the points of a perfect Short- 

 horn ; and the nearer an animal approaches perfection in its anatomy, 

 the more valuable it is for flesh-producing purposes, as such anatomy 

 yields the best product in the choicer parts of the carcass, and of 

 course more profitable to the seller and consumer. Therefore the 

 nearer perfection a breeding bull approaches in his various points, 

 the more valuable he is as a getter. For such a bull, to the breeder 

 of grade stock for the shambles only, it is more economical to pay 

 a round price than to take a defective one at a much lower price, or 

 even as a gift. Such is the reason why experienced breeders some- 

 times pay enormous prices for extraordinarily good bulls, as we have 

 known ; not that such bulls are to be used on native or low-bred cows 

 for grade breeding, but that on good thorough-bred cows they beget 

 a much higher class of bulls than are usually sought for more 

 common uses. It is, therefore, an object for any breeder, and for 

 whatever purpose, to command as good blood in the bulls of his herd 

 as circumstances will admit. 



Let continuous improvement in blood, quality, and style of his ani- 

 mals be the aim of every breeder, and never for any trivial purpose 

 lose sight of it. The new breeder in selecting the females to compose 

 his herd, if he have a preference for any particular, strain of blood, 

 should determine which he will adopt, and then obtaining the best 

 selections he can from them go on persistently in breeding, still bear- 

 ing in mind that uniformity in the characters of his herd, when coupled 

 with true excellence, is a great merit, giving conspicuity and reputation 

 to the breeder, and of course, a superior selling value to his animals. 

 A herd so established, in the present convenient ways of locomotion 

 through our country, need not suffer from the evils if men so 

 think of too close interbreeding. There are bulls enough, mainly 

 of the same blood and lineage, scattered over the Short-horn districts 

 of the United States and Canadas, to give fresh crosses in every 

 herd of their own tribes when such crosses become necessary. 



Quality and pedigree both, should go together ; each endorse the 

 virtues of the other. Yet, even defect in the quality of a bull may be 

 remedied by the superior excellences of his pedigree, when that ped- 

 igree has run through some previous generations of marked distinction. 

 Among many bulls which, without any noticeable characteristics of 



