330 THE CROSSING, AC, OP CATTLE, ET AL. 



He would have them, to be all alike, in some one 

 character, so that he may give them a name, and form 

 a breed of them. He cannot count, with any confi- 

 dence, upon a mongrel-cow, with a fine butter-making 

 capacity, dropping a calf of its kind. For aught he 

 knows, the offspring may wantonly forego the charac- 

 ter of an Alderney, and develop, instead, fine meat- 

 growing qualities. Such results occasion emotions, 

 within the breeder, similar to those indulged by a bow- 

 legged man, driving a pig to market. The breeder is 

 so imbued with the love of order, and of regularity, 

 that it positively piques him, to have one animal, with 

 one set of characters, producing offspring each of 

 which has started a different ratio of characters for 

 itself; or producing several calves which have, more 

 or less, succeded in acquiring all the peculiarities of 

 every breed. How is he, in such a case, to give them 

 a name ? to call them a certain breed ? His desire, is 

 that they shall be content, with one special peculiarity 

 alone; whereas, every individual, which is dropped, 

 seems to be pushing on, to the recovery of the mould 

 of " some ancient progenitor," in a different direction, 

 or* in all directions ; which direction, or sum of them 

 all it will not even adhere to, but it, in its turn at this 

 confusion worse confounded, drops offspring, with 

 some different character slightly in the ascendant, or 

 with an altogether different ratio from them all. What 

 cares the breeder for their repaired integrity? What 

 he aims at, is to get them with one special character, 

 only, developed. The capacity of these mongrels to 

 withstand close-interbreeding, for dozens of genera- 



