October, 1913. 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



217 



part, IV matter ol each cow's own 

 individual capacity. It is aJi en- 

 dowment of Nature that is sus- 

 coptihic of dmflopiuent by art, or 

 by Nature, umlcr favourable con- 

 ditions. It is, in point of fact, a 

 phvsiolojjical caj^acitv which, for- 

 tunately, is susceptible — bv suitable 

 hreedinjj throu};h each succeeding 

 generation of cows, by kindly 

 treatiu'cnt and sheltter when need- 

 ed, bv judicinjis feeding, and -regu- 

 i.ir and cleanly milking, and so on 

 — of being raised into a prominent 

 and permanent hereditary function 

 in the life-«conoinv of the cow. 

 .\ somewhat fugitive — a short-lived 

 — an undeveloped jiroperty, likie 

 that of secreting milk, may be 

 trained and expanded until, in 

 each succeeding generation, it be- 

 comes stronger and yet stronger 

 as a tendency in the direction of 

 liereditarv. These properties — and 

 there are many of them in the 

 sentient organic world ; pigeon 

 fanciers can tell us this as well, 

 or better, than anybod3' else — have 

 need to be developed systematical- 

 ly, on intelligent and intelligible 

 lines ; patiently followed the sys- 

 tem must be, not daunted the 

 artist, not relinquished thie me- 

 thod, though a lapse or two 

 backward may now and again 

 ocq'.ir. It is to him who pa- 

 tientlv plods year after year, never 

 entertaining the idea of ' turning 

 back, seldom tired but always hop- 

 ing, that the plenary reward is 

 sure to come in the end. 



— Some Great Breeders of 

 — Cattle. 



Ill all this, as I may surely 

 hope, some encouragement — ^happily 

 some incentive, too — may be found, 

 even by him who runs as he reads. 

 For it is so probable, so reason- 

 able, so logical on the face of it, 

 so completely well backed up by 

 experience, by well-sustained ex- 

 periments, so clear to him who 

 studies the laws to which the stur 

 pendous process of animal repro- 

 duction is susceptible and obedi- 

 ent. In the days of the early 

 breeders the principles of breeding, 

 the elastic laws of heredity, ;tbe 

 susceptibility of certain animal 

 functions to development by art 

 as well as bv Nature, were little 

 more than surmised, and certainly 



ot understood. 



To BakewieU, of Dishley, belongs 

 the credit of being the first to de- 

 monsttate — with Longhorn cattle — 

 , the influence which man could em- 

 ploy in modifying and improving to 

 an unsuspected degree the animal 

 orm in domestication. 'To toe 



l)r()thers Colling we turn in ad- 

 miration, too, for they were the 

 lirst of his disciples to put his 

 principles into practice in their 

 herds of Shorthorn cattle. The 

 success of these famous men was 

 striking and rapid. Very few years 

 su diced to demonstrate the equal 

 and even superior capability of 

 Shorthorns over Longhorns to 

 make rapid resi)onse to the prin 

 ciples inculcated by him in L/eices- 

 tershire. Superior as were the 

 Collings' cattle to the general run 

 of their breed, in the Tieeswater 

 country or out of it, they soon 

 became more excellent still in form 

 and substance, though not perhaps 

 in milkiness too. Bakewell, in- 

 deed—wisely, no doubt, for the 

 breed sliines but ditnly in thei con- 

 stellation of milkers — did not aim 

 at milk in his Longhorns, but con- 

 fined himself to securing earl)- ma- 

 turity, bea^utv of form, and apti- 

 tude to la)- on the tlesh in the 

 parts which are most appreciated 

 on the table. 



— Beef and Beauty— With Milk or 

 Without it. — 



Be it understood as a cardinal 

 fact that while the Shorthorns of 

 Colling were excellent milkers al- 

 ready, the Longhorns of Bakewell 

 were not and never bad been, as a 

 breed, conspicuous performers on 

 the pail. BakeweU — greatly to the 

 world's loss and regret — left behind 

 no record of his methods or of the 

 motives which induced him to for- 

 mulate them. We may, however, 

 venture to suggest the probability, 

 that he, having thought out the 

 suljject in his characteristic and 

 practical way — shaving, perhaps, 

 made a few collateral experiments, 

 whose results were not encourag- 

 ing — ^came to the conclusion , that 

 success was more probable in one 

 single line than in two as a pair ; 

 in beef as the one, rather than in 

 beef and milk as the pair. 



It \voidd not escape so acute 

 and practical a mind that beef and 

 milk were not necessarily co-ordin- 

 ate in cows, but might conceivably 

 be in conflict if pushed too far to- 

 gether, and he had no info'imation 

 at hand to say how far they 

 might, with success, be run toge- 

 ther in harmony. His, indeed, 

 were the first experiments in that 

 line. Had he tried to run them 

 so together, he could not have at- 

 tained so high a dual success with 

 Longhorns as he might have done 

 with Shorthorns. This, indeed, it 

 is more than merely safe to as- 

 sume. It is almost an absolute 

 certainty, in the absence of de- 



monstration to the contrary, in- 

 asmuch as Shorthorns arc more in 

 the way than Longhorns of being 

 good milkers ; inasmuch, too, as 

 they are more ductile and plastic 

 in the hands of man, who would 

 mould and model them to his 

 liking ; or, in the lap of Nature, 

 where the most genial and gener- 

 ous conditions occur. But these 

 things arc onlv an allegory to him 

 who knows little or nothing about 

 them, and does not wish to know. 



— And the Inferences. — 



In the first place, it may be said 

 that dairy farmers and all other 

 breeders of dairy cattle hold the 

 power of making, within limits, 

 what they like of their herds, so 

 far as milkiness is concerned. The 

 limit to lip expected is the poten- 

 tial capacity of the breed, what- 

 ever breed it may be — Shorthorn, 

 Longhorn, Red Poll, or any other. 

 Instances will occur to anyone 

 familiar with country life, and 

 with cattle in which some young 

 farmer has started with an in- 

 ferior lot of cows — low-priced, to 

 suit his limited capital — and grad- 

 ually improved them into a herd 

 commanding the notice and ap- 

 proval of practical men. These 

 instances show, in the best of all 

 possible ways, what can be dolie. 

 But there are other instances, far 

 more numerous, in which no pro- 

 gress has been made with im- 

 provement, though there was annple 

 room and opportunity for it, and 

 urgent need as well. 



— Knowledge. — i 

 We may allow that some men 

 have no eye for bulls that woiild 

 improve their herds ; these might 

 enlist our sympathy, but for the 

 fact that they will not condescend 

 to considt other men, who have 

 proved that they know something 

 worth knowing about that sort of 

 thing. Too proud to be taught. 



K. BECHTEL, 



SADDLER, TRUSS & BANDAGE 

 MAKER. 



59 O'Connell Street, 

 NORTH ADELAIDE... 



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 Buggy, Spring Cart, Yankee, and Gab 

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Trusses, Bandages, (Kneecaps, Leather 

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LADY IN ATTENDANCE 



