tHE SHORT-HoRNED, OR HOLSTEIN BREED. o5? 
beauty of form and utility were inseparable. But at pre¬ 
sent a distinction is made by men who have long been con¬ 
versant in practice, between a useful sort and a sort that is 
merely handsome. Utility of form is, therefore, the next 
general principle, and may be considered as arising from a 
larger proportion of those parts which are deemed offal , or 
which bear an inferior price, should be small in proportion 
to the better parts. A third principle of improvement 
laid down by breeders consists in the fineness of the mus¬ 
cular parts, or what is termed flesh. But the great object 
which engrosses the attention of breeders at present, is the 
fattening quality , or a natural propensity in cattle to arrive 
at a state of fatness at an early age, and in a short space of 
time ; and it appears, from observation, that beauty and 
utility of form, the quality of flesh, and its propensity to fat¬ 
ness, are principles consistent with each other, are frequently 
found in the same individual, and hereditary in particular 
lines or families of cattle. In regard to the means of im¬ 
provement, it has long been an established maxim, that, to 
improve the breed, it is necessary to cross it with others of 
an alien stock, under an opinion, that continuing to breed 
from the same line, weakens the stock. This idea, however 
rooted it may have been in the minds of former practitioners, 
is now entirely set aside by the modern practice of breeding, 
not from the same line only, but from the same family : the 
sire and the daughter, the son and the mother, the brother 
and sister, are now permitted to improve their own kind ; 
and in this way the improvement of the several breeds has 
advanced rapidly to a height unknown before in any age or 
nation.” 
This we may admit has been the case to a certain extent; 
but a limit must be put to it, otherwise, degeneracy anc 
weakness are sure to follow, and also a train of diseases, 
which will become hereditary. 
2 N 
