THE DIFFERENT BREEDS. 



have been simply trying to construct a fabric in tlrj absence of the 

 mo.st essential materials. 



The old-time dairy Durham has been completely changed. The 

 same may be said of the once celebrated Red Lincolns, and as for 

 the Longhorns, there has not been one of the type seen on the South 

 Coast for many years. The reason is plain, i.e., whilst dairy farmers 

 were and are making money out of crossbred cattle as they have been 

 and are doing to-day when the opportunity offers they will never 

 pause to think of the future. Suffice for the day has undoubtedly 

 wrought evil among our dairy herds. 



The intimate nature of things is generally unknown to us ; we know 

 nothing about it, and that little very imperfectly. The would-be cattle 

 breeders must never forget this highly important truth, It will show 

 them the necessity of assiduous labor if they wish to discover and 

 examine the nature of anything. Further, this truth is not at all 

 flattering to the pride of some of our cattle breeders, but it is clear 

 in the eyes of whoever has meditated on the science and art of cattle 

 breeding, and is therefore worthy of our best attention. 



The preceding reflections show the necessity of having fixed ideas 

 and formed opinions about matters relating to cattle raising. It has 

 been said that great thoughts spring from experience ; and it might 

 be added that great errors also come from it. We have examples 

 of this latter truth every year on our sho\v grounds, where we have 

 cattle breeders catering for the weakness of judges instead of adher- 

 ing to their own opinions. 



What we want is a Cattle Breeders' Association composed of men 

 who will not look for individual honors, but who will work co lec- 

 tivcly and with one united object namely, the perfecting of a breed 

 of dairy cattle the basis of which should be honestly laid. 



In other countries, such as the Islands of Jersey, it took several Acts 

 of Parliament to establish a breed of cattle. It will require the same 

 thing in the coastal districts of New South Wales, and a Cromwell 

 to administer the law before we may look with confidence to the 

 future as regards absolute purity of blood. 



Every science needs a starting point, and the professor of it 

 anxiously seeks this point. The architect looks for a foundation; so 

 does the cattle breeder. Unfortunately what is wanted is not always 

 found, but r.o effort should be lost to gain it. 



107. 



