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SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
^11 IIMW— 
-sannot be denied, produced a bi'eed of cattle worth the 
efforts of such a skilful agriculturist. The principle on 
which he seemed to act was novel, bold, and, for a time, a 
successful one. Some of his cattle were extraordinary 
illustrations of the harmlessness of such a system 
(in-and-in) ; but he had a large stock on which to work ; 
a veil of mystery was thrown over the most of his pro- 
ceedings, and no one knew his occasional deviations from 
tliis rule, nor his skilful interposition of remoter affini- 
^^^es when he saw or apprehended danger. 
But what has now become of the new Leicester or 
Bakewell cattle 7 Where are they to be found 1 It was 
a bold and, successful experiment and seemed, for a while, 
■ to ansv/er the most sanguine expectations of that skilful 
^ad spirited breeder. 
In districts in which experiments were carried on, it 
- ‘^tablished a breed of cattle unequalled by few, and it en- 
abled the long horns to contend, and often successfully, 
with the heaviest and best of the middle horns. But no 
sooner had the master spirits of the day disappeared than 
the character of the breed began, imperceptibly, to decline. 
It had acquired a delicacy of constitution inconsistent 
with the common management and keep, and it began 
■slowly and undeniably to deteriorate. Many of them had 
Been bred to a degree of refinement that the propagation 
. of the species was not always certain. The breed itself 
gradually diminished, in some places it almost disappeared. 
The reader may scarcely give credit to the assertion, but 
it is strictly true that, in 1833, there was not a single im- 
proved Leicester on the Dishly fam ; nor a dozen witnin 
a circuit of as many miles. It would seem as if some 
strange convulsion of nature, or some murderous pesti- 
teoee had suddenly swept away the whole of this valu- 
.-;«Lble breed. 
Thus we can see, that while this same man was emi- 
■^aentiy successful on one hand, he was as certainly un- 
successful on the other. 
Mr. Bakewell’s breed of sheep has handed down tou^ 
in exactly the same degree of perfection as when he left 
.1:liem, and during the century since he left them. This 
^racemust have been bred in-and-in, although the relation- 
ship existing between the dam and sire may have been 
tens of generations apart; and where such genealogy ex- 
ists between any two animals which . may be used for 
breeding purposes, can we, with strict propriety, call the 
results in-and-in breeding! I should say not. 
Although some of the most decided improvements have 
been made by following the system ofin and in breeding, 
it has only been done by the most judicious selections 
■&nd *)he exercise of cautious judgment, while in the hands 
of the ordinary breeder it is sure to run out a stock, de- 
generating them rapidly, rendering the males impotent, 
m manv' .'.ascs, and the females of little value as nurses 
breed v ,“s, 
Experience seems to have proved that crosses of the 
.-same variety of animals, but of another family, have 
F^reade the best animals ; and such a course is to be prefer- 
tred to the breeding in-and-in. In some cases, where there 
Cs a -marked superiority in any race of animals which it 
is wished to retain, a cross with a race less perfect in 
«otne respects, perhaps, but more vigorous, making, what 
breeders call a strong cross, and then breeding directly 
back to the favorite blood, has been very successful. But 
when the progeny are designed for breeders, the practice 
<tf in-and-in breeding should be branded with unqualified 
reprehension. D 
Edgefield District, S. C., June, 1859. 
g^^The belief that guardian spirits hover around the 
paths of men, covers a mighty truth, for every beautiful, 
pure, and good thought which the heart holds, is an angel 
mercy, purifying and guarding the soul. 
HIGH PRICE OF HORSES. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — This is a very im- 
portant subject, and a brief consideration of it will lead 
to some facts which ought to awaken the attention of the 
whole country. A nice little buggy horse, which, twenty 
years ago, would, have brought seventy-five or 
eighty dollars, now commands the extravagant price of 
four or five hundred, and in some cases, especially if he 
be a gentle Morgan horse, eight hundred dollars. A good 
substantial, pair of carriage horses are ready sale at from 
six to eight hundred dollars, and it is no uncommon thing 
that one thousand dollars are paid, and in some instances 
even the enormous sum Oi fourteen hundred dollars. For 
horses of like size, style, and qualities, twenty-five years 
ago, a hundred dollars, or at farthest a hundred and fifty 
dollars, would have been a fair valuation per each animal. 
Now it must be apparent to all who will take the trouble 
to reflect upon the subject, first, that there must be some 
cause for this great increase of price, and, second, that 
there is something wrong in the working of the machinery 
of our domestic system, or such extravagant and unnatur- 
al prices would neither be paid nor demanded. 
When the great Railroad Convention was held in Knox- 
ville, Tennessee, in 1836, and the construction of Rail- 
roads began to agitate the public mind, one great objec- 
tion was opposed to their construction by thefarmers, and 
especially the stock raising farmers of the West, that 
Railroads would take the place of their horses in the 
transportation of the travel and productions of the coun- 
try, would thereby depreciate the value of their stock and 
consequently deprive the farnier of a large source of his 
yearly revenue. But the Railroads have been built, and 
instead of the anticipated and dreaded depreciation in the 
price of horses, lo ! they have gone up one, two, or three 
hundred per cent., and the extravagant prices we have 
named are now demanded and paid. We cannot but be- 
lieve, however, that the objection of the Western Stock 
grower was founded in correct reason; for the hundreds 
and thousands and even tens of thousands of horses for- 
merly occupied in our thousands of miles of stage lines 
and in hauling the goods and produce of the country, are 
no longer needed in those services, and that vast army of 
horses, once thus employed has been dismissed, to en- 
gage in the less laborious and less life-exhausting services 
of the farm. The Railroad does all that horses formerly 
did, aod even more than was done by them. Fewer 
horses are needed, and the price, therefore, upon the ordin- 
ary principles of supply and demand, should consequently 
be depreciated. 
Now, as the reverse of this is the fact in the case, it is 
important, as we have before intimated, to investigate the 
cause of this great increase of price ; to raise a warning 
voice against the erroneous working of our domestic ma- 
chinery and to suggest a remedy for an evil which is just 
beginning to be felt, but which, if it is not soon arrested 
and the tide of events is not speedily reversed, is destined, 
in its enlarged and stillgrowing enormity to be more 
overwhelming in its ruinous career than the wasting deso- 
lations of the plagues of Egypt. 
When large and complicated systems of machinery 
have become extensively deranged, it is exceedingly diffi- 
cult to bring them again to a proper adjustment. So is it 
in Society. When opinions, however erroneous, have' 
been long adopted, and practices, howevar prejudicial and 
detrimental to the ultimate well-being of society, have been 
long established and acquiesced in, it is equally difficult 
to alter the direction of the one, or materially modify the 
bearing of the other and give proper balance to the dis- 
adjusted parts of the social machinery that those parts 
may work with harmony and ease. The unnatural prices 
now demanded and paid for horses are evident indications 
of disturbing foiods in the machinery of trade, and it is. 
