1870.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Cross-breeds and Grades, 
The distinction between cross-bred animals 
and grades is so seldom insisted upon, that we 
are inclined to define the terms when used in 
connection. " Grades " among neat-stock, sheep 
and swiue, are animals which have thorough- 
bred sires, with 
more or less, or al- 
together common 
blood on the side of 
the dam; while a 
cross-bred animal 
has both sire aud 
dam thorough-bred, 
but of different 
breeds; or it traces 
its blood on both 
sides to thorough- 
bred stock of differ- 
ent breeds. Thus, 
if a common cow 
has a heifer calf by 
a Shorthorn bull, 
the calf is a half- 
grade Shorthorn, 
and Iter calf, by a 
bull of the same 
pure breed, would 
be a three-quarter- 
grade Shorthorn. 
The next grade 
would be seven- 
eighths, the next fifteen-sixteenths, eLc. — -Any 
pure-blood cow, crossed with a pure bull of 
another breed, produces a cross-breed, which, 
crossed with a full-blood or another cross-breed, 
would represent no gradation of blood, but be a 
cross-breed still, combining and exhibiting with 
considerable distinctness, the characters of its dif- 
ferent parent breeds, or the predominating ones. 
In the case of grade animals, the common or 
native characteristics are often almost lost in the 
half or three-quarter 
grades, except per- 
haps some long-cul- 
tivated points, like 
the milking quali- 
ties of good, old, 
native cows, which 
are often intensified 
in their grade off- 
spring. This is sup- 
posed to show the 
strength of the vital 
power of the breed, 
which has, as it 
were, accumulated 
through many gen- 
erations. By the use, 
then, of thorough- 
bred sires, we are 
enabled to repro- 
duce their valuable 
characteristics in 
their grade stock 
with great certain- 
ty. Inferior speci- 
mens always occur 
among herds of pure stock. These must be sold 
at low prices, or sent to the shambles. They may, 
however, if females, be used to great advantage 
often in breeding cross-breeds. As a rule, none 
but excellent animals should be used as sires of 
either tuorough-breds, grades, or cross-breeds. 
To illustrate the successful combination of the 
traits and points of widely differing breeds, we 
introduce the three-year-old heifer /./:-// Bayck, 
bred by Robert Triinper, of VuUtie, N. T. Sho 
is the result of a preconcerted plan of crossing, 
whereby Sir. Trimper designed to produce good 
size, feeding capacity, aud constitution, and a 
great yield of milk of high quality. His success 
in this and several other experiments has been 
very uniform. Lizzy Huyck is out of a pure 
Shorthorn cow, (Lady Gifford), a deep milker; 
those of the Ayrshire, while the quarter of Jerse}' 
blood seems to disappear, to show in the pail. 
— . __e-S» —•- 
Our Native Mice 
CKOSS-BRED KEIFEK, "LIZZIE HUTCK." 
and by a cross-bred bull, which was out of a 
Shorthorn and Ayrshire cow, and by a pure Jer- 
sey bull. This makes the heifer, Lizzy Huyck, 
] | 2 Shorthorn by the dam, J [ 8 Shorthorn, % Ayr- 
shire, and '| 4 Jersey by the sire — or, to state it 
different]}-, B | 8 Shorthorn, ] | 4 Jersey, and 1 | e Ayr- 
shire. She calved January 3d, 1S70. The first 
trial was begun January 11th ; the week follow- 
ing she gave an average of 14 quarts of milk a 
day, and made 11 pounds of butter. The next 
TnE SHALL HARVEST MOUSE.— (ftcilltrodOil hUHtilin.) 
trial was begun February 8th ; she gave 16 quarts 
of milk a day, and made 12'| 4 pounds of butler. 
The cost of food, which consisted of "hay, 
corn-stalks, and ground feed" for the first week, 
was about 33 cts. a day, which, with butter at 
45 to 55 cts. a pound, paid very 'well. For the 
second trial, the feed cost 49 cts. a day. Other 
trials were not made, as the milk was required 
for use. The engraving is from a photograph, and 
represents the points of the Shorthorn with 
The mouse which is best known, on account 
of its frequency in our houses, is a native of the 
old world, and be- 
V-^^s-^rr-^^-^" longs to a different 
genus from any of 
our native species. 
"We are accustomed 
to speak of wild 
mice, or field mice, 
as if there were but 
one, whereas there 
are over fifty differ- 
cntspecies described 
by naturalists. Some 
of these are found 
from Labrador to 
the Southern States, 
while others are of 
very local occur- 
rence. The explora- 
tions of the far West 
and of the Pacific 
Coast have, within 
a few )*ears, greatly 
increased the num- 
ber known to sci- 
ence. The genera 
are mainly distin- 
guished by the structure of the teeth. There 
are some twenty species of Field Mice belonging 
to the genus Armcola. About fifteen of White- 
footed Mice, Hcsperomys — and four of Harvest 
Mice, Reiihrodon. The Harvest Mice have short, 
hairy ears and tail, and the upper incisor teeth 
have a longitudinal channel along the front face. 
The one figured is the Little Harvest Mouse of 
South Carolina aud some other of the Southern 
States, Reiihrodon humUis. It is about 2 1 inches 
long from the nose 
to the tail, which 
is shorter than the 
head and body. The 
coloris reddish-gray 
above, yellowish- 
white below, with a 
buff - colored line 
separating the col- 
ors of the back and 
the under surface. 
It builds a nest upon 
the surface of the 
ground, among the 
long grass, using 
as a material, soft 
and withered grass. 
This species is not 
considered particu- 
larly injurious to 
the farmer, as the 
Stores in its nests 
have been found to 
be mainly the seeds 
of wild grasses. 
Some of the wild 
mice arc very destructive to young fruit and 
other trees, by girdling them during the winter. 
Manure in Pastures. 
As a rule, the droppings of cattle in pastures 
are not spread. They fertilize a very small 
space, and the grass grows so lankly, that the 
cattle will not touch it, until they are forced by 
hunger. The^c little green blotches are noticed 
