130 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
Starling puint m tlie career of further progress 
and iinprovement, 
In breeding from foreign improved stock, it 
is necessary the American iaruier or breeder 
shouid pay particular aitention to the purity of 
blouu, and the predominating qualities ol the 
animal.. The principal Value ol any improve 
meht in animals, consists in its permanency; 
indeed, this quality is one of the main things 
that marks t ie difference between the high bred 
imported animal and some few of our native 
stock, if the improvement is not permanent; if 
the valuable qualities have not become fixed 
and constitutional, there is no security that they 
will be imparted to the progeny, or that the 
high raised hopes of the breeder may not end in 
bitter disappointment. It is in determining this 
questior of blood, that the pedigree becomes 
important; and a reference to the Herd Book 
■yiii inform the breeder whether he may depend 
upon stock possessing the qualities of their pa- 
rent.s, or leave it to be determined by the event 
whetner that stock shall possess most of the 
qualities of the Short Horn or the scrub. In 
reg rd to the qualities of the imported animals 
from which we expect improvement to our 
herds, it appears to us that there are two points 
that have been sometimes overlooked in making 
our selections. We have not paid attention 
enough to their milking properties, or their abi- 
lity and aptitude to labor. The old Short Horns 
W'ere the best milking breed in England — a re- 
E utation which, as a whole, certainly does not 
elong to the improved bre^s. That there are 
some superior milkers among them, is notori- 
ous; and that milking deep might be made one 
of the peculiar characteristics of the breed, no 
well informed breeder doubts. We very much 
question, however, whether there is at this time 
in Europe oi in the United States, a herd of any 
improved stock. Short Horns, Herefords or De- 
vons, from which twenty five cows can be se- 
lected, that would produce as much butter and 
cheese as the twenty five native cows mentioned 
at page 79 of the May Cultivator, or that from 
the twelve native cows mentioned at page 85 of 
the same number.* The reason is a plain one; 
other qualities than deep milking have been 
principally regarded by their breeders; beef, and 
not milk, has been the great object. That deep 
milking can easily be bred into them, no one 
questions; and this we believe is one of the 
points that calls lor immediate atteniion. An- 
other point that lias not been sufficiently attend- 
ed to, is aptitude to labor. In this country, very 
few instances can be found in which high bred 
animals have been put to the test of labor; but 
in England, Short Horn bullocks have been sub- 
jected to the yoke, and, unless we are misin- 
formed, were found in this respect inferior to 
the Devons or the Herefords. Indeed, the forms 
of the animals themselves, indicative of dimin- 
ished activity and power of locomotion, would 
lead the observer to expect such a result; and 
by some it may be considered doubtful whether 
the aptitude to labor can be engrafted on this 
stock, unless at the expense of other more irn» 
portant and valuable qualities, 
A question, most important to the agricultu- 
ral interests of the country, is not unfrequently 
asked, and it is desirable it should be correctly 
answered; that question is, how can the desired 
improvements be most certainly and expedi- 
tiously made”? On this point we are fortunate- 
ly not left to theory alone; but we have the re- 
sult of many experiments, which would seem 
to be decisive of the matter. In all crosses 
from a high bred or made up stock, with inferi- 
or breeds, there is a constant and powerful ten- 
dency to deterioration. Habit is hardly equal 
to a contest with nature; implanted qualities, 
unless carefully guarded, are apt to disappear 
before the powerful tendencies of natural and 
constitutional ones; and it is to prevent this de- 
generacy, to retain all the old qualities that are 
valuable, and add new ones that are desirable, 
'In the dairy of 25 cows the product per cow was 561 
lbs. of butter and cheese; and of the dairy of 12 cows 
the product per head was 533| lbs. In both cases the 
cows had pasture and hay only. 
that requires ail the skill and caution of the 
breeder. Man himself, studied physiologically, 
has furnished some of the most useful lessons 
which can be offered for the guidance of the 
modern breeders of animals. 
Our opinion as to the true course to be fol- 
lowed, and the one which we doubt not will be 
generally adopted, is, lor the breeder to select a 
full bied bull of the kind preferred, possessing 
those qualities most desirable, o indicating 
that they are inherent in the breed. Much is 
depending on the proper selection of the male, 
for it is he that stamps most indelibly his char- 
acter on the progeny. Asceitain whether the 
animals from which he is descended, the parti- 
cular family, we mean, are noted for any parti- 
cular quality, and what that may be. In the 
same breed, and of equal purity of blood, ani- 
mals may be found in which the predominating 
quality difl'ers essentially. Aptitude to fatten, 
deep milking, excellence in the yoke, kind 
handling, &c. &c. may not be prominent in all 
animals of a breed; and it is for the breeder tt 
select with reference to the qualities, whether ol 
form or color, most desirable. Having secured 
bulls of undeniable excellence, let the breeder 
next select from his native stock the best cows 
he possesses, or that can be procured — those in 
which the qualities of easy feeding, deep milk- 
ing and kind dispositions appear to be the most 
strongly marked and fixed, and breed from such 
cows only, if he hopes to effect a permanent im- 
provement in his slock. We ha ve never known 
an instance in which such a cross did not at 
once mark and change the character of a stock 
for the better. The cattle shows and fairs of 
our country prove that these half bloods are far 
superior to the native stock, in every case where 
ordinary attention has been paid to selection in 
breeding, and that in many instances they have 
approximated in form and value to the pure 
blooded progenitor. In this first cross we have 
rarely known the farmer or breeder to be disap- 
pointed; it is in the next and succeeding steps 
in the progress, from which disappointment has 
arisen, and this has been occasioned by causes 
perfectly easy to explain. How often have we 
heard it said, “our first calves were almost equal 
to the imported bull, but now they are n i better 
than old fashioned stock.” And this was true; 
for they were nothing but the old stock. Let it 
be remembeied that breeding from crosses, 
without recurrence to pure blood always degen- 
erates; but where the first cross or half blood is 
bred to a full blood, a half blood heifer to a pure 
blood bull, for instance, improvement is sure to 
follow. The course pursued by many, perhaps 
most of our farmers is this. A native cow is 
bred to a pure short horn, and the progeny is a 
fine bull calf. This calf, a half blood, is used 
for a bull with his herd of native cows, and the 
farmer is surprised to find such a falling off in 
the qualities of his calves from that of their 
sire. Now the true course would be, if the pro- 
geny in the first instance was a bull calf, to fit 
him for the yoke or the shambles; if a heifer, to 
breed her to a pure blood bull, and a good calf 
might be considered certain. By this recur- 
rence to pure blood, the stock will be constantly 
rising; by breeding from crosses without such 
recurrence, it will be as certainly sinking. — 
By proceeding in the way here pointed out, 
using full blocH bulls and the best native cows, 
our stock as a whole would be rapidly improv- 
ing, and the way prepared for an advance on any 
of the present breeds. ' 
But it may be doubted by some, whether any 
improvement on the best of the present high 
bred cattle, is possible, and the idea of it be 
scouted as an absurdity. “What,” it may be 
said, “talk of improving a breed by crossing 
them with those still lower in the scalel” We 
answer yes, and hope to show there is nothing 
chimerical in the plan. For illustration, we 
will again recur to the Short Horns, as unques- 
tionably at the head of the improved breeds. — 
Breeders have enumerated a great number of 
points as going to make a perfect animal; to 
make one absolutely perfect, we will suppose 
that thirty enumerated qualifications a c lequi'' 
site; that the Short Horns, as approaci.m..^ the 
neare.st to this standard, possess twent . Uie 
desired qualities; and the other variL..j.^ or 
breeds in a descending ratio down to our niiive 
stock, which may be put as possessing but five 
of these requisites. The question is, can an 
animal possessing twenty good points, ue im- 
proved by one possessing only 10 or 5: We 
answer yes, if the one possessing 20 is ueicient 
of any of the points possessed by the iovi est, or 
by 5. 20 may be deficient in hardihood or the 
power of enduring our seasons; in milking 
properties; adaptation to laboi; quality oi fiesh; 
or some other point or points, possessea m a re- 
markable degree by 5; and this deficiency reme- 
died by a skilful cross with 5, which sh.rfi en- 
graft and fix the valuaile point on 2o, vould 
make it 21, or furnish a decided advance to- 
wards animal perfection. 
The opinions we have advanced in this pa- 
per, are not to be considered as mere tlieory' 
alone; experiment has in a great degiee demon- 
strated their correctness. At our cattle sliotvs, 
crosses of the improved breeds with our native 
cattle have been exhibited, which have placed 
beyond a doubt the possibility of rapkdy im- 
proving our slock in this way, and by 'iK.r su- 
perior qualities furnishing every inceni. ve to the 
undertaking. But there must be no breeding 
downwards; every cross must be upAvards both 
in blood and in desired qualities. \v'e uo not 
say that any animals have yet been produced 
equal to the finest of the improved breeds, but 
we believe some might be pointed out that 
would not suffer materially in a comparison 
with a great majority of our imported animals, 
for all the ordinary purposes of the fanner. 
Believing as we do, that it is to skilful cross- 
ing of the improved pure stocks with our best 
native animals we are to look for the earliest as 
well as the permanent iraproveBeent of our 
herds, and the building up of an American 
breed Avorthy of the name, the importance of in- 
troducing and preserving animals which shall 
serve as the basis of this improvement, ibrces 
itself upon us at once. It is to the pure blood 
stock already among us, or which may be intro- 
duced, that we must mainly look; and eA'ery 
precaution should be used by the breeders of 
such stock, and every eflort used not only to 
keep them pure, but to provide for their further 
advance by skilful breeding, and by the infu- 
sion of new blood occasionally, to prevent the 
enfeebling and degenerating effects of too close 
breeding. The breeders of improved stock can 
scarcely attach too much importance to pedi- 
dree, as in that alone have they proof of the 
endurance of the valuable qualities of the ani- 
mals they breed; and the confidence of the pub- 
lic once shaken on that point, or any deception 
practiced, Avillbe most unfortunate, as seriously 
tending to check the improvement of domestic 
stock. Men Avho do not look at the subject in 
all its bearings, are sometimes heard to com- 
plain of the prices paid for imported or improv- 
ed animals, and denounce all efforts at improve- 
ment as speculation or mere money making. — 
We, on the contrary, vifAv the improvement of 
our domestic stock of all kinds, as an affair of 
national importance, and think the public spirit- 
ed individuals engaged in the business are rich- 
ly deserving the approval and the thanks of the 
agricultural public. If they are A\'ell paid for 
their labors in the cause of improvement, we 
shall rejoice at it most sincerely; but we have 
yet to learn that any American breeder has found 
his purse groAV inconveniently heavy, in conse- 
quence of his cattle sales. The men who add 
as efficiently to the national wealth as tliey do, 
are, to .say the least, entitled to their share. 
Albany Cultivator, 
InoreasijJq the Milk of Cows. — Gentle 
treatment and rapid and close milking, says 
the American Agriculturist, will tend to the 
greatest development of the milk in cows, and 
the contrary practices will have the effect of ma- 
terially reducing the quantity. 
