THE BREEDING OF STOCK. 
941 
distinct breeds had long been known, such as the Berkshire, 
Yorkshire, and Sussex, yet it would be somewhat difficult to 
give a correct nomenclature to all the different breeds. The 
Royal Society have long since fallen back on the distinction 
of “large and small,” “white and black” pigs. It would 
almost appear that the rule with regard to pigs must have 
been derived from Shakespeare, who in c Macbeth/ in the 
incantation of the witches, says : 
“ Babble, bubble, toil and trouble. 
Fire burn and cauldron bubble. 
Black spirits and white, 
Blue spirits and grey, 
Mingle, mingle, mingle, 
* Ye that mingle may. 5 ’ 
So with pigs it may be said to have been : 
Black pigs and white, 
Blue pigs and grey, 
Mingle, mingle, mingle, 
Ye that -mingle may. 
(laughter). In and in-breeding had been more successful 
■with horned cattle than with any other animals, and with the 
Shorthorns it appeared to have been followed out without 
those objectionable results which w 7 ere often considered to 
attend the practice. These objections were a disposition to 
barrenness, a w^ant of vigour, and the increase of those dis- 
eases to which the parents are mostly liable. In the human 
subject it w^as considered, and with good reason — that the 
alliance of near relations was conducive to scrofulq, insanity, 
and barrenness. The truth appeared to be that certain 
diseases and peculiarities were hereditary in particular fami- 
lies, wffiich by alliance with relations became two-fold increased, 
whilst by alliance with other families not liable to such 
diseases, there w 7 as a fair chance of the defects in question 
being crossed out. With cattle, and with shorthorn cattle 
more particularly, by employing healthy parents, possessing 
great excellency, and few if any defects, the benefit of the 
latter have been kept up without the evils which have so 
frequently followed the practice, and thus we have the 
celebrated Duchess and other families handed down in un- 
rivalled perfection. In no breed of animals have the females 
been so highly estimated, which is shown by the remarkable 
sums given for the best cows at the leading sales. One 
interesting fact is well illustrated in the breeding of cattle, 
viz. the power of transmitting the milking, or female, quali- 
ties by means of the male, which must, therefore, have 
possessed the germs of those qualities belonging to .the 
xliii. 62 
