268 



NEW EXGLAxND FARMER. 



Kt..UAKKS 



ON t:ii: improvement of cattle, &c. 



In a utter to S.r John Saunders Sebri-flil, Barl. M. P. 

 by .'//. Juhn Wilkinson, of Ltnton, near .yolting- 

 hain. 



ltd each auccocdiiig; race f-mploy your care, 

 Distinguish which to slaughter, which to spare ; 

 .Marie well the liiua^e, — let the purest make, 

 From purest blood, its just proportions take. 

 {Continued froai page 2tiJ.) 



.\PPENDIX TO THE PUBLIC. 



It was highly c;r;i(il\ing- to me at lirst, that 

 many who have ijiven their most serious atten- 

 tion to these matters, should have thought me 

 in any measure qualitied to elucidate a subject 

 of such vast importance ; but it was still more 

 so, when after repeated solicitation.*, and I had 

 at length complied with their request in offer- 

 ing my remarks, that the remarks themselves 

 should have met with so much approbation from 

 the public at largo. Nor can I pass over the 

 pleasure 1 have t'elt at being told, thatthoy have 

 already been of considerable practical use. 



I have had reason to hope indeed, that they 

 may have been of .some slight service in direc- 

 Upg" the attention to the shapes of Cattle, for 

 laying on the greatest quantity of meat in the 

 piimo parts, and in describing the best kind of 

 flesh,- -in shewing, that the fattening qualities 

 of Cattle are not incompatible with the milking, 

 and that the latter therefore ought by no means 

 to be neglected, — and lastlj-, by pointing out 

 the absurdity of keeping an inferior animal on 

 pretence that it is well-bred. 



In these particulars, I had observed manj' and 

 grievous mistakes; audit was really lamenta- 

 ble to find with the present desire of improve- 

 ment, that some had given large prices for an- 

 imals, that were in themselves so extremely de- 

 fective. It liappened, therefore, that the end 

 proposed in several cases, was not answered ; 

 and a consequent disappointment was thrown in 

 the way of future exertions. And hence it be- 

 came desirable to give, in the most plain and 

 simple terms, such general rules, as might en- 

 able every one in some measure to judge for 

 himself. 



In questions of a practical nature, experience 

 must be attended to ; and results carefully ob- 

 served : for theory without practice, is general- 

 ly idle and visionary ; and of little or no use 

 when put to the test. But then it is also to be 

 remarked, that along with practice, the most 

 patient thought and careful rellcction, not only 

 may be, but often are of the highest impor- 

 tance. In the case before us for instance ; to 

 know what would be the best possible shapes 

 for Cattle in their several parts (whether such 

 animals could be exactly found or not) would be 

 one of the surest mea;i3 at length to obtain 

 them ; by selecting those continually, which 

 most nearly approximate to the form itself. 



Were people to think more hideed, errors in 

 opposite extremes, would not so frequently fol- 

 low each other. Light lleshed animals would 

 not have been approved of for a single moment 

 merely because sonic that had plenty of flesh, 

 were of a hard and bad quality. Of such, the 

 trial need never have been made : it was obvi- 

 ous, they would not answer. By a little reflec- 

 tion too, it never would havP been concluded, 

 that Cows that were great milkers, could not al- 

 so be quick feeders; for this at least could have 



occurred to the mind, that when they were 

 wanted for feeding, they would at that time be 

 dried of their milk ; so that the objection, urg- 

 ed against' their feeding, would have fallen to 

 the ground, even on its own principles. Again ; 

 most hard lleshed Cattle, have also thick, hard 

 skins ; hence many have sought for such as 

 have their skins remarkably thin, and these are 

 too often of a very delicate and tender constitu- 

 tion. The truth is, though hard fleshed ani- 

 mals, are generally covered with a thick, hard 

 skin ; yet there is a skin of a certain substance, 

 which is by no means hard, but of a rich and 

 mellow feel, covering an animal exceedingly in- 

 clined to fatten. And these I think are very 

 greatlj- to be preferred : for every one must 

 perceive, that the skin is of the highest use to 

 protect the animal from those various changes 

 in climate, it is obliged to undergo. 



But lastly ; of all the errors arising from a 

 want of due rellection only, (independent of a 

 proper attention to facts) none can possibly be 

 greater, than that of keeping an inferior animal 

 to breed from, on pretence that the animal it- 

 self is well-bred. It is observed by the advo- 

 cates of this system, that breed xaill shciu itxetf; 

 that the (jualities of the ancestry nill be seen in the 

 future stock. True ; and will not this law of 

 nature then apply to inferior animals in the ped- 

 igree, as well as to the superior ? It unquestion- 

 ably docs. In theory, there is the same reason 

 for its holding in the one, as in the other: and 

 in practice we find that this is the case. It is 

 strange that persons who have fallen into this 

 error, and have brought forward the foregoing 

 argument in their defence, did not immediately 

 perceive, that the argument was quite as much 

 agaiust them, as they took it to be in their fa- 

 vor. From this mixture of good and bad an- 

 imals in the ancestry of some Hocks and herds, 

 it happens, that while we behold in the progeny 

 some that are good we also find some that are 

 very deficient ; and on such stock, little or no 

 dependance can be placed. I observed in the 

 remarks themselves, that a bad animal has 

 scarcely ever a good pedigree ; that on exami- 

 nation, we shall generally find something wrong 

 in the ancestry at one point or other: or that if 

 such a case actually occurs, it is most probably 

 owing to some accidental circumstance, such as 

 illness, or injury received by the parent while 

 pregnant, &c. &.C. But supposing such a thing 

 really to happen without any such accidental 

 circumstances at all, then it is a deviation in na- 

 ture, I think not less remarkable, than that a 

 pair of rooks or blackbirds should produce a 

 nest of young ones that are perfectly white. 

 Whatever may be the real cause however of 

 the birth of an inferior animal, we shall per- 

 ceive in each partirtilar case many and strong 

 reasons why it should not be kept to breed from. 

 If it has arisen from illness in the parent, its 

 own constitution is most likely weakened and in- 

 jured, and this in all probability would again he 

 entailed on its offspring. If it be one of those 

 strong di'viations in nature, which maj' possibly 

 occur (though 1 am persuaded very rarely takes 

 place) without our being able to account for it 

 according to the common course of things; then 

 we know, as in tlie example given above, that 

 this deviation, however great, may be continu- 

 ed ; that white roots being once obtained, a 

 breed of the same description might by care be 

 at length established : aud moreover without 



this care, that the white color would be almo 

 certain to shew itself in some of the progen 

 And by analogy, the same thing would appe: 

 reasoiwble with respect to deviations in mal 

 or shape : but what a practical man is most co ' 

 cerned with, it is so in fact. That the bi 

 qualities ns well as the good, are liable to j 

 inherited, was a circumstance- well known 

 the ancients, and has often been remarked 1 ^ 

 their best poets. 



In bringing- forward these examples in ord 

 to shew that if practice were accompanied I 

 more reflection, many errors would certainly ' 

 avoided ; I have at the same time selected the 

 of this particular nature, the better to illustra 

 my own subject. But the observation itself, 

 one of so general a nature, that it applies to i 

 most all our undertakings. 1 have chosen sue 

 moreover, where the errors have not onlybe. '' 

 frequent ; but where some of them are of ll '' 

 consequence, and particularly the last, th 

 wherever a due attention shall not be paid 

 this part of the subject, there, much progrt 

 cannot reasonably be expected. 



1 stated in the remarks, that no animal c 

 be depended upon for breeding, but such as 

 in itself good, and is moreover well-bred in t 

 strictest sense of the words ; and I am persu; 

 ed that experience will bear me out in the ; 

 sertion. 1 might also have added, that wh 

 such and such only are used for this purpose, i 

 need not be in the slightest fear of disappoi 

 ment. Horace, a celebrated Roman I'oct, w 

 understood the importance of this when he « 

 pressed himself in language to the following 

 feet ; of which this translation may be given 



The brave arc offsprings of the brave and good : 

 In stctTs and stteds we trace the north and blood 

 Of high-bred sires ; '• nor can the bird of Jove,* 

 Intrepid, fierce, beget th' unwarlike dove."t 



As if the poet had said ; that where the ; 

 cestry is really good, there is almost as lit 

 reason to expect, that the valuable propert 

 of the parents should fail in the offsprin 

 as there is to eipect that an animal of o 

 kind, should ever be the parent of that ' '* 

 another. " 



From what has been advanced on the inhi ■' 

 itance of peculiar qualities, it will immediate 

 appear in the selection of Bulls, that besides ' 

 tending to those properties which belong to t 

 male, we ought to be careful also, that they a 

 descended from a breed of good milkers, j 

 least if we wish the future stock to possess ll ' 

 propertj'. It is of far more consequence 

 deed, that this should be the case with respi 

 to the Ball, than it can possibly be with respc j 

 to an inilividual Cow ; because the whole of 1 ' 

 descendants will be aQected by it. 



Since the whole number of good Cattle 

 the country is at present unquestionably ve 

 small ; 1 shall add a few words on what appci 

 to me to be the most probable means of increi 

 ing it ; but particularly with respect to the u 

 of Bulls. I mentioned in the remarks, that 

 those di.stricts where valuable animals wc 

 lirst introduced by Gentlemen themseWes, 

 thought it would not be a bad plan to allow tl 

 Tenantry to improve their own stock at a ct 

 tain reasonable rate ; and gave my reasons ) 

 the foregoing opiuioD. I find however, th 



R 



k 



iiii 



=i 



•The Eagle. 



t The part between the inverted ccmmas, is tat' 

 from the traualatiou of Francis. 



y 



