ON THE BREEDING OF CATTLE. 
587 
ciple with the agriculturist to effect some change in his stock every 
second or third year, and that change is most conveniently effected 
by introducing a new bull. This bull should be, as nearly as pos- 
sible, of the same sort, coming from a similar pasturage and climate, 
but possessing no relationship, or, at most, a very distant relation- 
ship, to the stock to which he is introduced. He should bring with 
him every good point which the breeder has laboured hard to pro- 
duce in his stock, and, if possible, some improvement — and espe- 
cially if the old stock have any defects, and that most essential of 
all qualifications, a hardy constitution, should not be wanting. 
There is one circumstance, however, w T hich the breeder occasionally 
forgets, but which is of as much importance to the permament 
value of his stock as any careful selection of animals can be, and 
that is — good keep. It was judiciously remarked by the author 
of the “ Agricultural Report of Staffordshire,” that “ all good 
stock must be both bred with attention and well fed. It is ne- 
cessary that these two essentials in the species of improvement 
should always accompany each other, for without good resources 
of keeping, it would be in vain to attempt supporting a capital 
stock.” This is true with regard to the original stock. It is yet 
more evident when animals are absurdly brought from a better to 
a poorer soil. 
The proper age at which the process of breeding may be com- 
menced will depend on various circumstances. Even with the 
early maturity of the short-horns, if the heifers could be suffered 
until they were two or two-and-a-half years old, they would become 
larger and stronger, finer and more valuable, and their progeny 
would be larger and stronger. The custom which at# one period 
was beginning to be so prevalent in the breeding districts, of putting 
the heifer to the bull at one year old, as well as at an earlier period, 
cannot be too much reprobated. At the time when they are most 
rapidly growing themselves, a sufficient quantity of nutriment can- 
not be devoted to the development of the foetus, and both the 
mother and the calf must inevitably suffer. That which has been 
said of the best age for beginning to breed in the cow will equally 
apply to the bull. It is absurd and dangerous to begin to use him, 
as some have done, when a yearling. He will come into season 
at two years old — he will be better at three ; and although the 
farmers may not deem it prudent to keep him more than two or 
three years, he may then be sold advantageously, in his full prime, 
0 another breeder. 
I now come to the food for the cow when she is in calf, and a 
more important and profitable subject cannot engage our attention. 
1 will begin with the foetal condition of the animal, and take a calf 
as a general example. It, like all other animals, is supported and 
