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DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
to do with the great principles we have endeavored to illustrate ; they 
apply alike to all breeds of cattle. Every breeder, then, should well 
consider the properties of the stock from which he breeds, investigate 
their good qualities and their bad qualities, and while he endeavors to 
keep up or improve the former, he should study to remove the latter. 
His selection must be strict; the heifer or cow should have as few of 
the bad points as possible, every excellence in perfection, and be in good 
health ; the bull should be of the same kind, and if related, only in a 
remote degree ; nor should he have been brought up on a pasturage 
differing from that of the cow, or under the influences of a different local 
climate ; he should not only possess the good points desired , in all their 
perfection, but lie should also have the points which the farmer con- 
siders to be the excellences of his own stock, as admirably developed. 
Thus acting with judgment he may expect improvement; and if he fail, 
there is some concealed fault which has been overlooked, either on the 
one side or the other, or some defect in their parents, and which (in 
accordance with the tendency there is in families to exhibit, from time 
to time, certain peculiarities, latent perhaps for a generation) has again 
made itself manifest ; consequently, on both sides there ought to be 
what is termed “ good blood'' But this is to suppose a stock already 
improved to a great extent ; and here we may repeat the injunctions 
laid down by the Rev. II. Berry, which more particularly apply to the 
farmer commencing de novo: “A person selecting a stock from which 
to breed, notwithstanding he has set up for himself a standard of per- 
fection, will obtain them with qualifications of different descriptions, and 
in different degrees. In breeding from such he will exercise his judg- 
ment, and decide what are indispensable or desirable qualities, and will 
cross with animals with a view to establish them. His proceeding will 
be of the ‘ (jive and take kind.’ He will submit to the introduction of a 
trifling defect, in order that he may profit by a great excellence ; and 
between excellences perhaps somewhat incompatible, he will decide on 
which is the greatest, and give it the preference.* 
“To a person commencing improvement, the best advice is to get as 
good a bull as he can, and if ho be a good one of his kind, to use him 
indiscriminately with all his cows; and when by this proceeding, which 
ought to be persisted in, his stock has, with an occasional change of 
bull, become sufficiently stamped with desirable excellences, his selection 
of males should then be made to eradicate defects which he thinks de- 
sirable to be got rid of. 
“He will not fail to keep in view the necessity of good blood in the 
bulls resorted to, for that will give the only assurance that they will 
* “A person would often be puzzled ; he would find different individuals possess- 
ing different perfections iu different degrees one, good flesh and a tendency to 
fatten, with a bad form: another, with fine form, but bad flesh, and little disposition 
to acquire fat. What rule should he lay down, by tho observance of which good 
might be generally produced, and as little evil as possible effected? Utility. Tho 
truly good form is that which secures constitution, health, and vigor: a disposition 
to lay on flesh with tho greatest possible reduction of offal. Having obtained this, 
other things are of minor, though perhaps sometimes of considerable importance.” 
— PrizeEssay, by the Rev. H. Berry. 
