The Value of Pedigree. 
47 
they could not be blamed for doing so, but they are paying the 
penalty for it now. Referring to the sale of Mr. Campbell’s 
Shorthorns at New York Mills, in September, 1873, when 
eleven females of the Duchess tribe averaged 4,52 2 Z., and six 
females of the Oxford tribe 1,087Z., Mr. Peter asked. What have 
these animals produced ? Now, when prices have got to a nice 
level, is, he thinks, the time for Shorthorn breeders to begin to 
breed from selection, and to breed strong, healthy, robust animals 
that will pay for the food they eat, and not need to be pampered 
and almost kept in lavender till they get a certain age. 
It must not be forgotten that want of robustness may be 
aggravated, if not actually created, by the -manner in which 
a calf is brought up and kept during, at all events, the earlier 
portion of its life. My belief is that the more naturally a 
calf is brought up the better; the diet nature prescribes for 
it is the best, that is milk, followed by good sound herbage, 
whether as grass or hay. Plenty of air, with room and light, 
and, above all, not being kept on a hotbed of dung, or exposed 
to cutting blasts or on wet ground, are most desirable. In 
fact, without being pampered, to be kept clear of chills, and, 
without being stinted, to have wholesome, good food, not too 
stimulating, and not in excess, are the dictates of sound practice. 
Again, the milking properties, I believe, may become greatly 
lessened by the way a heifer is brought up and fed. If kept too 
fat she will yield but little milk, so that in the rearing of all 
breeding cattle the happy medium should be striven for — a 
condition that will keep the “calf’s flesh,” admit of no check 
in growth or healthy vigour, and yet in no way make them fat. 
As with young cattle, so with lambs and young pigs ; they 
must be kept well, and special care should be taken that they 
receive no check, but are continued in that growing condition 
so desirable for all young animals to maintain. 
In the preceding pages my endeavour has been to indicate, 
firstly, the advantages, and secondly the disadvantages, of 
clinging to pure blood, I have also endeavoured briefly to trace 
the history of the pure-bred Shorthorn, and to show the good 
that has arisen, and the bad effects that may have arisen, more 
owing to want of care and attention than anything else, from 
the use of “ pure blood.” It will have been gathered that my 
own opinion is that purity of blood in breeding is of the greatest 
advantage, provided always that it is used with discretion 
and discrimination. One of the lai’gest and most successful of 
Shorthorn breeders — never a gambler in them — said but recently 
that his herd is now so truly bred that before he sees the calf he 
