344 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
EXAM INI IMG ANIMALS ARRIVING AT MARKET.— Engraved /«• ae American Agricumirist. 
Inspection of Animals Destined for 
Slaughter. 
— • 
The spirited engraving which we here pre- 
sent is of a scene which occurs nowhere in this 
country. It represents a quay in London, where 
cattle from the crowded barges in tlie river 
are being landed, and each one, as it arrives 
upon the dock, undergoes the careful examina- 
tion of the veterinary inspector. Tlie preva- 
lence of the cattle plague excites interest in this 
subject in the public mind, and so the Illus- 
trated London News, from which we copy the 
picture, takes this opportunity to show its read- 
ers what the system of inspection is and how it 
works. To us in America it serves as a remind- 
er that here we have nothing of the kind, except 
the vague fear of punishment for committing 
certain very illy defined crimes, provided they 
be proved to have been wilfully committed, 
which it is very hard to do. 
We have no doubt, indeed we have the knowl- 
edge, that cattle, sheep and swine exhausted by 
cruel treatment, lack of water or food, hard 
driving, etc., or sick from any cause, and likely 
to die, are killed, and, if the blood will only 
flow, tlieir flesh is sold in the open market. To 
the dishonest butcher or drover, while life re- 
mains there is hope, and this hope is not always 
extinguished by tlic (un)uatural death of the poor 
famished, heated exhausted beast, for tBere is 
many a low meat store in this city where fresh 
meat, full gf blood, and fairly oozing disease at 
every pore, may be seen offered for sale. Nor 
is it only in our large cities that this great 
wrong exists, for where hogs are driven in on 
foot from the country surrounding some of 
the great packing houses at the West, wag- 
ons follow the drove, and the weak are picked 
up, the dying killed and taken up also, and 
the dead undergo the farce of throat cutting, 
etc., and are cared for in the same way. No 
doubt, also, all, in the shape of extra or prime 
mess pork, are finally eaten — with what conse- 
quences no one can accurately determine. 
The need of well educated veterinarians is 
becoming daily more urgent, that when public 
opinion is educated up to demauding the thor- 
ough inspection of animals destined for slaugh- 
ter, the men may be upon the ground. This 
gives us another opportunity to commend the 
profession of the veterinary surgeon to young 
men who are making choice of an employment, 
for which a course of study is essential, and 
where honor and profit will reward application. 
Well-bred Animals. 
One of tiie advantages of thorough-bred stock 
is, that it furnishes the breeder a foundation so 
to speak, upon which ho can gradually build uj) 
a flock or herd to his own ideal of useful- 
ness. In thorough-bred animals certain pre- 
vailing characteristics have become so strong- 
ly developed and thoroughly confirmed, that 
the transmission of them to tlieir posterity be- 
comes almost an absolute certainty. There jis 
no danger therefore, in their case, of losing 
these gener.al excellences, while the undesirable 
qualities are being slowly but surely bred out 
by a judicious pairing of animals. The princi- 
ples of good breeding depend upon the simple 
law " that like begets like." The same peculi- 
arity existing in both parents, will almost cer- 
tainly exhibit itself in the offspring, perhaps still 
more conspicuously. If the parents possess di- 
verse or opposite qnalities, other things being 
equal, the offspring may be expected to repre- 
sent tlie mean. By the use of these simple 
principles, wonderful changes can be wrought 
in any kind of stock, without going outside of 
its own variety, or even family. In this man- 
ner, the Spanish sheep have been changed in 
their many essential features by breeders in this 
country. By a similar process we know that 
Bakewell, of England, gave to the Leicesters 
their jjeculiar merit as mutton sheep, and in like 
manner, cattle, hogs, poultry, and otlier kinds 
of domestic animals have been bred so as to 
form varieties with fixed characteristics. On 
the other hand, let the attempt be made with 
mongrels, and the breeder can not be sure that 
the characteristics of either parent will appear 
in the offspring; or that the increase of differ- 
ent years will bear any great resemblance to 
each other. All hopes therefore, of establishing 
a desii'able uniformity in stock in this case, are 
at an end, or at least very difficult of realization. 
