THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



71 



From the Ohio Farmer. 



The Culture of Domestic Animals. 



1. I had the opportunity for many years 

 in succession, to observe the process thro' 

 which a small herd of buffalo, in the park 

 of a friend, passed away from the full- 

 blooded animals, down through successive 

 stages of conformity to common cattle, 

 until all trace of the Buffalo, to a common 

 observer, had disappeared. In this case, 

 the common bulls refused to serve the buf- 

 falo cows ; but the buffalo bulls would 

 serve the common cows — a fact which was 

 attributed to the well known odor of the 

 buffalo cow being offensive to the common] 

 bull, but not vice versa. The buffalo blood, 

 which was pure and unmixed as blood 

 could be, hung well and was long visible ; 

 but it disappeared, to an unskilled eye, af- 

 ter about five crosses. 



2. If you will breed the bull dog, to the 

 pointer; or the chubby black Berkshire 

 hog, to the gaunt white Irish Grazier; or 

 the Saxon sheep, to the black-legged South 

 down; or the improved shorthorn Durham 

 bull, to the common cow of the country; 

 or the thorough-bred race horse, to a cold- 

 blooded mare ; in all these cases, and in 

 every similar case, with every creature in 

 the world, the result which will follow, in 

 the^rs^ cross will be, that all the young of 

 the half blood, will be very similar to each 

 other, in each kind, and partake very much 

 of the appearance of both parents, only 

 the highest bred parent making the young 

 most After this, if you breed back to 

 either side exclusively, the blood on the 

 other side will disappear at about the 5th 

 cross; liable, however, to these two ex- 

 ceptions. 1. That very high bred races, 

 (a buffalo, for example, which may have a 

 thousand pure descents,) will show occa- 

 sional outbursts, long after the blood seems 

 lost ; and 2. That there is a general but 

 obscure drift towards the inferior of the 

 two original races. If on the other hand, 

 you breed these half bloods together, in 

 each kind, you will see immediately, the 

 greatest diversities ; and after a few de- 

 scents, say, as in other cases, five, it is 

 hardly possible to tell what they are, 

 though the blood remains as it was, half 

 and half. 



3. There is nothing of which I am more 

 confident, than that you cannot keep up a 

 mixed race of any sort of domestic ani- 



mals, without eventually resorting to the 

 pure blooded animals, on both sides, by 

 means of which you made the mixed ani- 

 mal, at first. There may be many good 

 reasons why mixed animals should be cul- 

 tivated ; why we should breed them, and 

 use them ; about which I have nothing to 

 say here. But as to making new, good 

 and permanent varieties, in this waj', that 

 is not possible ; because we are not able 

 even to perpetuate witli distinctness, any 

 mixed race — much less to give it such sta- 

 bility as to improve it at a given mixture. 

 So that, by these processes and principles, 

 as well as by all I have said before, we have 

 [new proof of the real nature and effects 

 of in-and-in-breeding. In these last cases, 

 it is a perpetual struggle of nature, against 

 crosses she does not relish ; in the unmix- 

 ed cases, it is a perpetual co-operation of 

 nature, in favor of pure results. In both 

 cases her principle, her process, and her 

 result w r ould be similar, if she were undis- 

 turbed in her operations. 



4. In a state of nature, the process 

 amongst all gregarious animals is after this 

 fashion. A male animal will become the 

 master of a herd or flock, more or less 

 considerable, and will beget most of the 

 young in that herd or flock, as long as he 

 can maintain his supremacy. How long 

 that may be will depend mainly on the du- 

 ration of life, in that kind of animal. In 

 animals that pair at the breeding season, a 

 totally different process obtains ; but as far 

 as our knowledge extends, the first pair- 

 ing is always of a male and female, of the 

 same litter; and the pair thus united, are 

 only separated by death. In the former 

 case, direct in-and-in-breeding, but contin- 

 ually changed after a few descents, is the 

 ordinary process of re- production ; in the 

 latter case, the very closest collateral in- 

 and-in-breeding, unbroken through life, is 

 the usual process. In neither case, how- 

 ever, is barrenness even known to be pro- 

 duced ; and in both cases, an absolute uni- 

 formity of reproduction occurs, which far 

 exceeds anything that culture can boast of. 



5. I have proceeded with a pretty large 

 flock of Saxon sheep, say, an average of 

 100 ewes, after this wise : about once in 

 four or five years, I would put fifteen or 

 twenty rams to them at that period when 

 the whole flock was most certain to be im- 

 pregnated in the shortest tune, and there- 

 fore, in part by every buck. Then, for a 



