340 
THE JOURNAL OF THE 
To the accomplishment of these grand and patriotic objects, se- 
parate from every other purpose, this Society is devoted. At the 
ensuing Meeting and Cattle-show of the Society at Oxford, on the 
17th of July, in the present year, £1000 will be distributed in 
prizes connected with every species of agricultural improvement. 
The second Essay in this Journal we shall quote at length, for 
it is truly worthy of its noble author. It is the first acknowledged 
literary contribution of Earl Spencer to the cause to which he has 
been so long and ardently devoted; but it -will be the sacred and 
pleasing duty of some future annalist to tell how extensively this 
nobleman has been directly and indirectly connected with the on- 
ward progress of agricultural improvement. 
On the Selection of Male Animals in the Breeding of Cattle and 
Sheep , by the Right Hon. Earl SPENCER, President of the 
Society. Read February 20th, 1839. 
More from wishing to set an example to others, than from any 
hope that what I myself can suggest will be practically useful, I 
submit to the English Agricultural Society the results of my expe- 
rience in an important part of that division of farming to which 
my own attention has been particularly applied, — I mean the 
breeding of stock. The part to which the following observations 
apply is the selection of male animals. A large proportion of 
farmers breed sheep, and several breed cattle. To all who breed 
either this subject is one of great importance. 
The object of a certain number is to breed bulls or rams for the 
purpose of selling or letting them, but that of the majority is to 
breed oxen or wethers for the purpose of grazing. The first of 
these classes is very well aware of the importance of selecting good 
male animals, and profess to spare no trouble and to be very indif- 
ferent as to the expense which they incur in obtaining them : but 
with respect to those whose object it is only to breed oxen or 
wethers, I am afraid the case is generally very different, and they 
take very little trouble, and expend as little money as possible in 
procuring the male animals to which they put their females ; that 
is, they consider as a matter of indifference that on which the pro- 
fitable or unprofitable nature of their occupation mainly depends. 
It is admitted by every one that the bodily and constitutional 
qualities of the offspring are usually similar to those of the parents, 
either combining in various proportions the qualities of both 
parents, or taking entirely after one. I should say, as respects 
cattle and sheep, that, in most cases, the qualities of the male parent 
predominate in the offspring. I have also observed that the worse 
bred the female is, the more will this be the case when she is put 
