214 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



at agricultural shows. But these are only excep- 

 tions : when kept in good store order, no cattle are 

 nore certain, as I know from experience, and if 

 /ou will take the Herd Book and examine it, you 

 vill find the cows missing very few years. But I 

 vill be glad if you will state distinctly what you 

 nean by "uncertain,"* that I may answer it if I 

 ;an. 



What you say about the best mode of improving 

 he stock of Virginia, I have nothing to object to. It 

 3 the cheapest plan, no doubt, and if followed out, 

 vould add thousands of dollars to the wealth of 

 r irginia; but let those who attempt it be careful 

 <f whom they select their animals. It is the more 

 mportant, that those who intend improving their 

 fcock, should make themselves acquainted with the 

 •oints which constitute a good animal, at this time, 

 han before we had an agricultural show. There 



ill be hundreds of animals brought to Virginia 

 •om the North — from Short Horn cattle — with pedi- 



ees as long as your arm, down to the latest of 

 "..mbugs — the Shanghai, Brama Pootra, Cochin 

 hina and Chittagong chickens, none of which are 

 ) be compared to our Virginia game. But I was 

 lad to see that these chickens, with their " out- 

 mdish" names, found but few purchasers amongst 

 ■ ur people, and that those who had the games 

 >und ready sale for all they had. If a person 

 eeps poultry for profit, and as ornaments to their 

 rounds, it seems to me that no person would have 

 hese long-legged, crane-necked, gouty-footed, big- 

 teaded abortions, about their premises, unless kept 

 >ut of sight and out of hearing. I am digressing, 

 towever, and must return to my subject. 



Besides making themselves acquainted with the 

 >oints of cattle, they should also make themselves 

 acquainted with — pedigree. Virginians will under- 

 tand the word pedigree when applied to race 

 iorses, but there are very few who will understand 

 t when applied to cattle. How many, do you sup- 

 >ose, of all those who were at the show, could re- 

 eat from memory the pedigree of the race horse, 

 Led Eye, running back, I don't know how many 

 ears, to the Godolphin Arabian, and how many 



* What we meant by "uncertain," was this: there is 

 iss uniformity in breeding Short Horns, than in either 

 )evons or Herefords. We say nothing of Ayrshires, be- 

 ause we think them valueless, compared with the others. 

 iVith a Devon bull, even on a "native" cow, you are apt 

 i get a calf strongly marked with Devon points. With a 

 »hort Horn bull, even on a Short Horn cow, you can not 

 ■redict what sort of animal the progeny will prove, either 

 a color or quality; and though there may be a sprinkling of 

 ■remium animals, the average of excellence will be less. 



But we also join issue on the other point raised by Mr. 

 • iathews. We have been taught to believe that the bulls 

 re not so apt to beget, and the cows less apt to conceive, 

 han in any of the other races. This is a natural conse- 

 quence of the system that has been adopted in their rearing 

 ind management. Everything has been sacrificed to early 

 naturity, or the habit of laying on fat, which has resulted 

 n giving the bulls, along with "the thigh, if a bullock, and 

 he head of a heifer," an effeminacy of character which 

 neasurably unfits them for procreation, and imparting to 

 he cows an habitual fatness, which tends to prevent con- 

 ception. Last summer, we met with a case in point, stated 

 . a one of the letters of some man who had been sent from 

 he West, by a cattle importing company, to buy stock in 

 England. He observed a coarse headed bull in a noted 

 lerd, and on asking why such an animal was kept, re- 

 ceived for answer, that though he had never taken a prize 

 uimself, he was the getter of prize-takers — the vigor was 

 •here, and his aspect was the proof of it. — Ed. Southern 

 Planter. 



were there who knew that the bull, Holbrook, 

 thought to be the main foundation of the improved 

 Short Horns, ever existed'? Yet, as to the real 

 merits of the two animals, so far as their usefulness 

 is concerned, in adding to the productive wealth 

 of the country, and aiding to advance the real and 

 substantial interests of the people, it seems to me 

 that there is no comparison, as to which of the two 

 animals should be awarded the highest merit. But 

 it would take up too much space in your paper to 

 explain the pedigrees of the Short Horns. I will 

 remark, however, to those who expect to buy cattle 

 at the State Shows, that the Herd Book is no secu- 

 rity against getting grade animals palmed off upon 

 them for full bloods. There are hundreds of grade 

 animals recorded in the Herd Book, and some of 

 the bulls merely numbered without any pedigree 

 at all. The only security is to make themselves 

 acquainted with the good families, whose pedigrees 

 are recorded, and whose excellences have been 

 transmitted by careful breeders to the present time, 

 and purchase and breed from their descendants. 

 I can, perhaps, make myself better understood by 

 referring again to the race horse. Why is it that 

 the colts of certain horses are so much sought after, 

 and that the mares are sent hundreds of miles to 

 favorite horses, and large sums, in some instances 

 as high as $200, (which, I believe, was the price 

 Priam stood at,) are paid for their services, if it is 

 not for their reliance upon their pedigree? — from the 

 fact that their ancestors have produced race horses 

 for generations past. The colts of the horses are 

 frequently entered in sweepstakes, and enormous 

 sums staked upon them; in many instances, even 

 before the mares have foaled — at least, this was 

 the case some years since. This is the case with 

 cattle, and if you wish to secure excellence in 

 their descendants, the only way to do it is to 

 breed from those which are well descended — those 

 whose ancestors have possessed the qualities which 

 you wish to transmit to their posterity for several 

 generations — the longer the better. Although, 

 there are a great many persons in Virginia who care 

 very little about pedigree as applied to cattle or 

 any other kind of farm stock except horses, I do 

 not suppose you are one of them, or that you will 

 doubt the correctness of positions as laid down. If 

 you do, I will ask you to refer to the sale of the 

 late Earl Ducie's Short Horn cattle, which took 

 place in England, last August. You will find the de- 

 scendants of Young Duchess, a two year old heifer, 

 purchased by Thomas Bates at Chas. Colling's sale 

 in 1810, selling for nearly twice as much as any 

 other animals. For instance, "Young Duchess 

 sold at Colling's sale, October 11th, 1810, fetched 

 183 guineas, and now Duchess the 59th, six years 

 old, and of the eighth generation from her, fetched 

 350 guineas; Duchess 64th, four years old, of the 

 seventh generation, fetched 600 guineas; Duchess 

 66th, also of the seventh generation, hardly three 

 years old, fetched the extraordinary price of 700 

 guineas, (about $3,500;) Duchess 67th, of the 

 ninth generation, fifteen months old, fetched 350 

 guineas : Duchess 68th, of the eighth generation, 

 eleven months old, fetched 300 guineas; Duchess 

 69th, of the ninth generation, five months old, 

 fetched 400 guineas; and Duchess 70th, of the eighth 

 generation, six weeks old, fetched 310 guineas.' 

 This last was the calf of Duchess 66th; so that cow 

 and calf fetched the altogether unparalleled sum 

 of one thousand and ten guineas," (upwards of 

 $5,000.) Besides these, there were also offered for 

 sale, two bulls descended from Young Duchess. 



