THE OX AND THE DAIRY. 



gaining an ascendancy, so that few really excellent long horns 

 are now to be seen. This, however, has nothing to do with 

 the great principles we have endeavoured to illustrate ; they 

 apply alike to all breeds of cattle. Every breeder, then, 

 should well consider the properties of the stock from which 

 he breeds, investigate their good qualities and their bad 

 qualities, and while he endeavours to keep up or improve the 

 former, he should study to remove the latter. His selection 

 must be strict ; the heifer or cow should have as few of the 

 bad points as possible, every excellence in perfection, and be 

 in good health ; the bull should be of the same kind, and if 

 related, only in a remote degree ; nor should he have been 

 brought up on a pasturage differing from that of the cow, or 

 under the influences of a different local climate ; he should 

 not only possess the good points desired, in all their perfec- 

 tion, but he should also have the points which the farmer 

 considers to be the excellences of his own stock, as admirably 

 developed. Thus acting with judgment, he may expect im- 

 provement, and if he fail, there is some concealed fault which 

 has been overlooked, either on the one side or the other, or 

 some defect in their parents, and which (in accordance with 

 the tendency there is in families to exhibit, from time to time, 

 certain peculiarities, latent perhaps for a generation), has 

 again made itself manifest ; consequently, on both sides there 

 ought to be what is termed " good" blood." But this is to 

 suppose a stock already improved to a great extent ; and here 

 we may repeat the injunctions laid down by the Rev. H. 

 Berry, which more particularly apply to the farmer commenc- 

 ing de novo. " A person selecting a stock from which to 

 breed, notwithstanding he has set up for himself a standard 

 of perfection, will obtain them with qualifications of different 

 descriptions, and in different degrees. In breeding from such 

 he will exercise his judgment, and decide what are indispens- 

 able or desirable qualities, and will cross with animals with a 

 view to establish them. His proceeding will be of the 'give 

 and take kind. ' He will submit to the introduction of a trifling 

 defect in order that he may profit by a great excellence ; and 

 between excellences perhaps somewhat incompatible, he will 

 decide on which is the greatest, and give it the preference.* 



* " A person would often be puzzled ; he would find different individuals 

 possessing different perfections in different degrees : one, good flesh, and a 

 tendency to fatten, with a bad form ; another, with fine form, but bad flesh, 

 and little disposition to acquire fat. What rule should he lay down, by the 



