396 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Tlie Culture of Domestic Animals. 



1. The question of breeding' in-and-in 

 is one of very great importance. It is 

 known how much diversity of opinion ex- 

 ists in regard to it; with, I think, a gene- 

 ral drift of public sentiment against it. 

 What I have to say is the result of expe- 

 rience and very careful consideration of 

 all the facts and principles involved ; so 

 far as I was possessed of them. Let it go 

 as part of the means, by which others may 

 make up a more reliable judgment. 



2. There are two kinds of in-and-in 

 breeding, which are, in my opinion, to be 

 carefully distinguished from each other. 

 That which is up and down ; and that 

 which is collateral. And then that w T hich is i 

 collateral, is liable to produce very diffe- 1 

 rent results, according as the relationship is 

 complete, or only partial. And again, j 

 that which is up-and-down, is liable to 

 produce very different results, whether it 

 is direct and immediate, or whether a 

 generation or two intervenes. I will add, 

 that far more depends upon the particular 

 race of animals under question, where 

 this matter of in-and-in breeding is to be 

 decided, than is generally supposed. 



3. A full brother and sister are just 

 twice as much akin to each other, as ei- 

 ther of them is, to either of its parents. 

 They have the very same blood ; whereas, 

 each of them has only one-half of the 

 blood of each parent. The breeding of a 

 full brother and sister together, is there- 

 fore, twice as close in-breeding, as to breed 

 either of them to either of their parents. 

 The half-brother and sister, have exactly 

 as much common blood, as the parent and 

 issue ; and cousins in the first degree, 

 precisely as much as the grand-parent and 



The great gracd-sire, or 

 an animal, has only one-eighth 

 part of common blood with it ; which is 

 the same common blood as exists between 

 cousins in the second degree. Many 

 breeders would carefully avoid the former 

 cross, while they would not think the 

 common blood in the latter, worth consid- 

 ering. 



4. It is at once curious and important to 

 consider what an immense mixture of 

 blood takes place in a few generations. An 

 animal has one sire only ; in the second 

 degree two ; in the third degree four ; in 

 the fourth degree eight ; in the filth degree 

 sixteen. Here are but five descents — 



its grand issue.' 

 dam of an animal, 



the smallest number any one is content 

 with, as proof of a pure pedigree. But 

 in these five descents we have no less 

 than 32 ancestors, male and female, whose 

 blood is mingled in the veins of the single 

 animal we are interested in. And if we 

 will add a few more crosses, how rapid is 

 the increase; in the sixth degree alone, 

 thirty- two ancestors of both sexes;* in 

 the seventh degree, sixty-four ancestors of 

 both sexes ; in the eighth degree, one hun- 

 dred and twenty-eight ; in the ninth de- 

 gree, two hundred and fifty-six; in the tenth 

 degree, five hundred and twelve. That 

 is, at this tenth degree, which you will see 

 so pompously insisted on, in multitudes of 

 pedigrees, our animal can count 1054 an- 

 cestors ; with the most remote of whom, 

 he has the 2128th part of common blood ! 

 How is it possible for us to know any 

 thing special of the personal peculiarities 

 of the fiftieth part of these 1054 ances- 

 tors ? How can we guess which one of 

 them it may be, after which our animal 

 has ' taken ?' Let us be modest and rea- 

 sonable about things involved in so much 

 uncertainty, the moment we pass beyond 

 great and general laws. 



5. We are to remember, however, that 

 this widening and ascending process must 

 not only have an end, but in its last half 

 must exactly reverse its first half. Take 

 a bull descended from the bull Hubback, 

 or a stallion descended from the Godolphi.ii 

 Arabian ; the two ends of these pedigrees 

 will terminate in th? points of two cones, 

 of which the bases are united in the mid- 

 dle. You trace up to the widest number 

 of ancestors ; then you narrow in, and 

 concentrate at last upon the original pa- 

 rent — say Hubback, or the Godoiphin. 

 Examine this carefully, and observe what 

 an immensity of in-and-in work there was,' 

 in widening from the original starting 

 point ; and then how much more, in nar- 

 rowing back to our animal. Consider 

 what a vast proportion of Durham cattle 

 with pure pedigrees, trace back to hub- 

 back — what an immense mass of high 

 bred horses, trace back to the 'Godoiphin. 

 These are but illustrations ; but they illus- 

 trate facts and principles of the very high- 

 est importance ; and these cases are used 

 only becau.se they are notorious and un- 

 questionable. 



* This must refer to one sex only — either 

 sire or dam. — Ed. Ohio Farmer. 



