586 



NEW ENGLAND FARIHER. 



Oct. 



For the Xew England Farmer. 

 HOBBIES — BLOODED STOCK. 

 When 1 wrote my last article, I thought I 

 had done with Professor Law's remarks. I 

 cannot, however, refrain from one or two 

 more (luotations. Speaking of the eli'eots of 

 imagination on the dam, he says: "A bay 

 mare that was worked, stabled" and grazed 

 with a black gelding, having white legs and 

 face, straight back and long quarters, so that 

 the feet seemed to be set at right angles on 

 the legs, was covered by a bay horse. She 

 produced a foal exactly like the gelding in 

 color and shape, and 'especially that of" the 

 legs." Another, "beautifully formed trotting 

 mare, covered by a horse of the same kind, 

 was pastured during pregnancy in the next 

 park to a mule, and the foal shows an unmis- 

 tably nmlish aspect about the head, ears, 

 thighs and gait." A "black polled Angus 

 cow was served by a bull of the same breed, 

 but the calf was black and white, and horned 

 like an ox with which the cow was pastured." 

 Out of another herd of "twenty polled Angus 

 cows, served by a polled Angus bull, all had 

 pure Angus calves, except one, which, 

 threatened with barrenness, had been sent to 

 starve on another farm, where she grazed with 

 a yellow and white ox. The calf was yellow 

 and white." In another case a man "had 

 twelve white calves from his roan and brown 

 Durham, after whitewashing his steading to 

 ward off the pleuro-pneumonia in 1869. He 

 never before had more than two in one year, 

 and always sent them away." 



The effect of the first sire on the succeed- 

 ing progeny is also noticed. IVIares bred to 

 an ass and afterward to ahorse, "had the 

 qualities of the ass preserved in the second 

 and third foal." 



Breeding back is also noticed as one of the 

 causes of diversity ; but whether th« bad (juali- 

 ties of the ancestors, without any of their good 

 ones, are brought out in this way, he does not 

 inform us. Under this head he speaks of a 

 litter of pigs among which "the exact coun- 

 terpart of the Berkshire used twenty-eight 

 years before to give size and constitution to 

 the herd," was produced. 



But it is impossible in an article designed 

 for a newspaper to speak of all the positions 

 assumed by the lecturer. After cautioning us 

 against all the difficulties that stand in our 

 "way — difficulties insurmountable in my opinion 

 to the ordinary farmer, who has only" the \}VO- 

 fits of a hard New England farm to depend 

 upon, and who can't afford to build fences high 

 enough to exclude all sight of the outside world, 

 and even of the whitewash applied to stables, 

 the lecturer comes to his 



Summary of General Principles. 

 The second one of which is, "That in the 

 maintenance and improvement of a breed, the 

 truth that like produces like, — that the repro- 

 ductive germ, ovum or spermatozoon will 



stamp upon the animal developed from it the 

 character of the parent organism, is the back- 

 bone of all success." Now it seems to me 

 that the cook's directions for dressing a hare, 

 first to catch him, would be very ajjplicable 

 here. First, get your breed that "vou wish to 

 perpetuate, and then you are all "right. He 

 tells us further back that "the fundamental 

 princif)le that like j^roduces like is not an in- 

 variable rule ; were it so, every breed would 

 retain the same qualities throughout all time, 

 and no improvement could be effected." 



Now, it seems to me that the law that like 

 produces like, is totally inap})licable in tliis 

 matter. _ I can't conceive of any possibility 

 of its being brought to bear upon it, for I con- 

 ceive it to be utterly impossible to place any 

 given number of animals in the same circum- 

 stances ; and, consequently, there is no chance 

 for the operation of the law. 



But I must leave the Professor, and pass to 

 some remarks of Mr. Goodman, of Lenox, 

 Mass. He says, "this subject is one which, 

 perhaps, no unprofessional man can treat 

 well." In speaking of what he calls "cock- 

 tailbulls," he says : "we have, in most of our 

 societies, eliminated them, cleaned them out. 

 But every year the question is brought up, 

 and we have to fight it over again. But we 

 are in hopes that this year the Board or the 

 Legislature will fix it so that hereafter none of 

 these 'cock-tail bulls' shall be brought out 

 for service, or at any rate for the premium at 

 our fairs." Think of that, brother farmers ; 

 he wants it fixed so that however good an ani- 

 mal you may have, you shall not only be de- 

 barred from offering it for a premium, but 

 also from using it at all ! Owing to ignorance 

 very few farmers understand this matter of 

 breeding. It is very dllBcult for one not 

 "well grounded in science to arrive at a nice 

 appreciation of those distinctions which learn- 

 ed men make, or to understand and carry 

 away with him much information from a lec- 

 ture like this, replete as it is with theories and 

 facts." In this remark I perfectly agree with 

 him. 



The point I wish to make is, that breeders of 

 blood stock have not as yet agreed upon what 

 shall be considered pure blood. Some say 

 that crossing to the fourth or sixth generation 

 we get pure blood, while others say a much 

 longer time is necessary. But they all agree 

 that "Charthage must be destroyed ;" in other 

 words, that all other animals must be pushed 

 aside at our Fairs to make room for these 

 fancy animals. I would like to have some of 

 these sticklers for pure blood tell us whether 

 there is any difference in the composition of 

 the lilood that might be drawn from an animal 

 fed on the short pastures of some partsof Box- 

 ford and one of those pampered Ayrshires or 

 Short-horns, any more than in that of the 

 human race; for we have the authority of Holy 

 Writ for saying that "(Joil made of "one blood 

 all the nations to dwell on the face of the earth." 



