22 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 7, 1881. 
on the part of the breeder, not only because the qualities of the male 
animal can he brought to bear upon larger numbers, but also because 
of his own special endowments it is best to seek for improvement of 
form and quality through him. The home farmer must remember, 
too, that qualities both of the form and also of the character become 
hereditary in proportion to the frequency of their repetition in past 
generations ; but that it is dangerous to breed from any animal with 
important defects, however high its pedigree. We must also state 
that healthful well-formed animals without hereditary taint, even if 
closely related, may be safely permitted to propagate their kind, 
provided the practice be not continued through many generations. 
It should also be borne in mind that young animals should be 
first mated with the best of their own kind, in order to avoid the 
reappearance of stain in any future progeny. Horses are an im¬ 
portant part of the live stock, especially when we breed our own, 
and many of the above observations apply with equal force to 
horses as well as cattle ; hut of course there are other points to he 
considered, as between working animals and those which only 
furnish food for man. The management of horses at this time of 
year is, in the hands of some parties, called a very simple matter— 
merely to feed them well and turn them out at night time either into 
littered yards with Clover in the cribs or turn them to graze in pas¬ 
ture or on the arable land upon Clover, and Saintfoin. We, however, 
cannot say that we approve this plan, for in our changeable climate 
we often get frosty or very cold nights, and when horses have worked 
hard during the heat of the day—frequently in an excited state of 
perspiration—the change is too great between their state and con¬ 
dition at day and at night time. We have always preferred an airy 
stable with boxes for the animals 10 feet by 12 feet, both for their 
health and freedom from accident, and at the same time for obtaining 
the full value of their manure. 
VARIETIES. 
Angora Rabbits. — “A Rabbit Fancier” writes to us as 
follows—“Having for several years taken a great interest in rearing 
and breeding Rabbits I send you a few particulars, which I think will 
he interesting to some of your readers, about a pair of Angora Rabbits 
I now have, the habits of which I consider peculiar and certainly 
very uncommon for this class of pets. The animals have never been 
separated. There is no fear of their young being killed. They have 
been kindled all over the hutch, hut the male on perceiving this 
immediately takes them up and carefully places them one by one in 
their nest. When there he watches over them with paternal care, 
and guards them from every intruder by stationing himself before 
the comer where the nest is. When I cleaned the hutch out for the 
first time I put the young in a basket; no sooner had I done this 
than he immediately jumped on the basket, and stayed there until 
the young were removed again to their hutch. This is the first time 
I have kept a pair together. I believe that all Rabbits have an 
intense affection for their young; and I conclude from the above 
facts that it is solely through fear that a doe when left by herself 
sometimes destroys her young.” 
- The American Cheese Trade. —It is evident from the 
figures compiled of the manufacture and sale of cheese that the home 
trade is rapidly growing. This growth is estimated at from 12,000,000 
to 15,000,000 tbs. a year. The conditions that govern the cheese 
trade are different from those that influence the sale of butter. Only 
a dozen States out of the thirty-three produce as much cheese as 
they do butter. The per capita consumption of cheese in this country 
is now between 4 and 5 lbs., hut is rapidly increasing. The combi¬ 
nations and competitions of freight lines make a difference in the 
price of the article, hut American cheese is handicapped about 
2£ cents a pound when placed on the Liverpool market in compe¬ 
tition with the English product. In 1880 over 40,000,000 lbs. of 
cheese were sent out of the country, Great Britain taking 05 per cent, 
of the quantity. The typical cheese market in the United States is 
at Little Falls, N.Y. ; Elgin, Ill., comes next, and St. Albans third in 
the list in importance. New York receives more than one-half the 
cheese products of the country ; Chicago comes next.— {The Prairie 
Farmer.) 
- Points of a Good Cow. —A practical agriculturist gives in 
the Irish Farmer’s Gazette the following description of a good cow :— 
“ The muzzle should be rather large, hut the head small and bony, 
with the face dished and wide between the eyes ; horns rather small, 
and amber colour; ears small, thin, and yellow; neck thin and 
long, with clean throat; neck will drop a little in front of shoulders, 
making what I call a ewe neck ; shoulders sloping, not heavy, hut 
lean or bony; hack level, with good width of hips. The backbone 
should he rough or loose-jointed. I consider this one of the best 
points. As you move your hand along the hack the joints seem to 
be further apart and open. Barrel broad and deep at the flank, with 
the hack ribs wide apart. Rump long and rather wide ; thighs long, 
thin, and wide apart, with legs short and hone fine ; hoofs rather 
long, hut small; milk veins large, and where they enter the body you 
can stick your fingers in. Udder well forward and well up behind, 
with four good large teats set square and wide apart. Udder soft 
and pliable, and not fleshy, so that when the milk is drawn the udder 
is nearly gone. Tail long and slim, with a good switch. Skin should 
be soft and yellow, with a good escutcheon, and mild disposition. 
The cow filling the above description, or nearly so, I have always 
found a good one.” 
PRACTICAL SCIENTIFIC BREEDING. 
(Continued from page 522.) 
FEEDING. 
Although it may seem to our readers that the question of 
feeding does not properly come within the scope of an essay 
upon “ breeding,” yet the two subjects are so closely connected 
that the greatest amount of trouble as to breeding will be wasted 
unless proportionate attention be given to the question of food. 
We have sometimes been amazed at the difference between 
chickens hatched from the same parents and at the same season 
of the year, but differently treated as to food. We do not refer 
to cases where the youngsters have been starved, or half starved, 
and otherwise neglected, but to instances in which food has been 
abundantly supplied, and the fault has been rather in the quality 
than the quantity. 
Before entering upon the discussion of the best method of feed¬ 
ing the growing birds, a few words as to the treatment of the 
breeding stock may not be out of place. 
It is obvious that the chief points to be borne in mind here are, 
that the supply of food be such as shall promote a general, healthy, 
and vigorous state of the constitution, which implies a freedom 
from excessive fat, and also such as shall supply the necessary 
materials for the formation of eggs. 
The egg of the domestic fowl when deprived of its shell con¬ 
sists of 71f parts of water, 14 parts of albumen or flesh-forming 
material, 13 parts of fat, &c., and 1^- part of phosphates, &c. The 
proportion of flesh-forming material to fat is far larger in the 
white than in the yolk, but that is not of importance for our pur¬ 
pose. The shell of the egg is mainly composed of carbonate of 
lime or hard chalk. 
The secretion of an excessive amount of fat by the hen has by 
experience been found to be a hindrance to laying, but once hens 
are in full lay a larger proportion of fat-forming food becomes 
necessary in order to supply materials for the eggs. 
The following table, the chief parts of which were first compiled 
by Mr. Tegetmeier, but which has since been added to by Mr. 
Lewis Wright, and in which we now further include bran, car¬ 
rots, parsnips, turnips, and onions, will be useful for reference: — 
There is in every 100 
parts o£ 
Flesh 
formers. 
Fat or 
oil. 
Starch. 
Bone 
formers. 
Husk or 
fibre. 
Water. 
25 
2 
48 
2 
8 
16 
18 
6 
63 
2 
2 
9 
Middlings, Sharps, or 
Pollard. 
18 
6 
53 
6 
4 
14 
16 
4 
43 
6 
17 
14 
Oats ... 
15 
6 
47 
2 
20 
10 
Wheat . 
12 
3 
70 
2 
1 
12 
12 
6 
58 
H 
2 
11 
ii* 
ii 
11 
2 
60 
14 
11 
8 
65 
1 
6 
10 
10 
21 
45 
2 
14 
8 
Rice . 
7 
A trace 
80 
A trace 
13 
64 
A trace 
41 
2 
50J 
91 
14 
Oj 
4*- 
01 
1 
if 
1* 
0* 
81 
04 
5 
1 
. 
89 
oj 
Ot 1 ,; 
4 
1 
__ 
93 
Milk ‘... 
3 
5 
Of 
86f 
Cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli, though containing 90 per 
cent, of water, are otherwise very rich in flesh-formers, and may, 
