10 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
tic, .is “ going ahead ” as to agricultural matters 
in boldness—if not in discretion. His agricul¬ 
tural implements are of the most simple and ef¬ 
fective character; and his zeal is shown in the 
fact, that he does not hesitate to give a thousand 
guineas ($5000) for a very first class Short Horn 
bylL This is, indeed, a “ fancy price,” and one 
which few even ardent patriots could afford, yet, 
nevertheless, Jonathan is wise in his generation. 
The consumption of meat in this country is be¬ 
coming enormous. London alone requires two 
millions of sheep and upwards of five hundred 
thousand beasts for its annual supply. And, 
again, when we reflect upon the energetic labors 
that are going on in our mining districts, when 
we learn that Derbyshire, with some aid from its 
sister county, Nottingham, raises nearly four mil¬ 
lions of tons of coals annually, we can not but 
conclr.de that the men who perform these enor¬ 
mous labors must require a large supply of ani¬ 
mal food. 
The Short Horn tribe of animals is peculiarly 
adapted to the rich lands of Kentucky, and Amer¬ 
ica is determined to cope with us in “meat-stuffs,”. 
as she already does in “bread-stuffs,” and as a 
ua*'on we must look to our laurels. Mr. Russel, 
of Kilwhiss, in Scotland, states that he saw at 
at Springfield, in America, a very large show of 
Short Horn cattle, and he does not think that at 
the Royal Agricultural Show at Windsor, in 1851, 
tlie general stock was so universally good. The 
American, by importing such bulls as the “4th 
Duke of York,” and such cows as those of the 
“Duchess” tribe, places himself at once in the 
same position for success as England was in 
1810—when Charles Collins’s magnificent hull 
“Comet” was almost the sole fountain, from 
whence have sprung the hundreds of fine animals 
which now graze in the valleys and uplands of 
this beautiful country. America acts wisely in 
selecting well formed animals of the "Duchess ” 
tribe to found a race, for they possess intense vi¬ 
tal force, and impress their own characteristics 
upon their offspring ; as a proof of this, I may 
mention, that three years ago, prior to a sale at 
which, among many others, some alleged animals 
of the “ Duchess ” tribe were to be sold, I went 
into the field where the ticketed cows were feed¬ 
ing, and giving the catalogue, into which I had 
not looked, to a friend, I said : “ Now, let me 
see whether I cannot pick out for you every heif¬ 
er that is alleged to be descended from the ‘4th 
Duke of Oxford,’ through a cow that is herself 
well bred and I did so without a single error. 
I mention the fact as an illustration of how dis¬ 
tinctly qualities are handed down from genera¬ 
tion to generation by special individuals. 
But, gentlemen, valuable, unspeakably valua¬ 
ble,, as is a long descent ; much as I esteem and 
love a pedigree, yet I hold it to be the veriest fol¬ 
ly to give high prices merely for a pedigree ; to 
value an inferior animal merely because it has 
descended from fine race. Such folly will almost 
always end in disappointment. I have known 
heifers purchased at 60 guineas, ($300) which 
were not worth 20k ($100) in any market in Eng¬ 
land ; they were small, misshapen animals of low 
quality ; they had narrow chests, hollow should¬ 
ers, flat sides, and thin flanks, but wherewithal a 
pedigree so long, that it bothered the printer to 
find “g, g ( g, g’s” enough and “r r r r’s” enough to 
print the catalogue in which were detailed the 
great, great, great ancestors of these abortions. 
No lineage, however high, can compensate for 
such defects. One deformity, in a cow of strong 
vital force, may be impressed upon its offspring 
through many generations, just as the good qual¬ 
ities of an unpedigreed bull—a bull without a reg¬ 
istered maternal grandfather, “ Hubback ’—have 
been handed down for nearly SO years, and are 
seen in some of his progeny to this very hour. 
Some people are perfectly infatuated with the 
“ Herd Book they are spell-bound by its records, 
and seem to disregard other circumstances, if we 
may accept their purchases as the tests of their 
opinions ; but this of itself will not suffice to pro¬ 
duce a first-class herd of cows, or sheep, or pigs. 
Secure pedigree whenever you can , but do not omit 
form, quality, size, and what, for want of a better 
term, I will call life-vigor, and by this I mean 
strength, activity, and a stately, lively carriage, 
and if to these you can join docility of temper so 
much the better. 
I repeat, many animals imprint their own char¬ 
acteristics upon their offspring through many gen¬ 
erations,-and when you have a good animal of this 
kind it becomes priceless, and with care and prop¬ 
er management may be serviceable for many 
years. We deal with artificial forms ; special 
and even accidental characteristics have been 
arrested in the individual, and been stamped upon 
its progeny ; what we term onr best-formed ani¬ 
mals are wide departures from the primitive type, 
and we could secure for our successors, if not to 
ourselves, still wider deviations from existing 
forms, if such were deemed advisable. These 
facts, I think, prove how very particular we ought 
to be as to the qualities of the individual animals 
from which we rear stock. For practical pur¬ 
poses it is not enough that an animal should be 
pure bred. It should in itself be symmetrical, full- 
sized, handsome, of good “touch,” and vigorous, 
if retained for breeding purposes. No pedigree, 
however high, can be an equivalent substitute for 
.these qualities—in short, we desire form with 
pedigree ; but pedigree without good form and 
without quality we hold to be a mockery, a de¬ 
lusion, and a snare. 
Having secured a good calf, or young animal of 
any kind, it almost entirely depends upon the own¬ 
er whether it shall be a stunted or a full-sized an¬ 
imal. No after treatment can ever compensate for 
bad management in the early stages of the animal's 
growth. If at any time food be stinted and 
warmth be withheld, or if, as sometimes happens, 
warmth is given but light is withheld, or if 
warmth be secured only by impure ventilation, 
mischief is done, and a check to growth takes 
place which is never fully recovered from. Light 
and proper warmth are essential elements of 
health. Exclude a young growing animal from 
light, keep him warm by means only of the heat¬ 
ed carbonic acid gas which he has thrown off from 
his lungs, and by the ammoniacal gases which 
emanate from his evacuations, and you will plant 
the seeds of “ scouring,” “ black-leg,” and those 
other mysterious complaints which carry off 
calves suddenly and hopelessly. You may pro¬ 
duce scrofula (“ king’s evil ”), rickets, or con¬ 
sumption in an animal, by excluding it from light, 
giving improper food, and surrounding the crea¬ 
ture with an impure atmosphere. See how a 
flower in a darkened room creeps towards the 
light from some stray sunbeam. See how grass 
loses its green hue when artificially excluded from 
the light—and animals require it in like manner 
for the healthy performance of the functions of 
life. You may retard, and in some cases arrest, 
those higher changes which certain creatures 
have to pass through to their full development, 
by simply excluding them from light; tadpoles, 
for instance, have been kept for months as tad¬ 
poles, without reaching the higher development 
of the frog, by keeping them in darkness — and the 
young calves which are pent up in early Spring 
in dark and ill-ventilated places, are prevented 
from attaining that full health and perfect devel¬ 
opment which under happier circumstances would 
be reached. If required for the butcher, the dis¬ 
eased blood—the blood deprived by darkness and 
an improper atmosphere of much of its coloring 
matter and its fibrine — may cause the veal to be 
whiter, but if the animal be destined for a useful 
life, then let in upon him the glorious sunshine; 
let him breathe the pure, the life-giving oxygen 
of the skies; surround him with wholesome 
warmth ; give him good food at regular intervals, 
and then, oh ! then, in his sparkling eye, his smooth 
soft coat, his elastic skin, his rounded form, his 
frisking motions, lie will testify his gratitude, and 
in his growth proclaim that he has a master who 
has had wisdom enough to comprehend, and 
kindness enough to supply the conditions upon 
which health, and strength, and beauty, and fer¬ 
tility can be obtained. 
Break the Calves and Colts. 
“ Train up a child in the way he should go, and 
when he is old he will not depart from it,” is 
just as applicable to the bovine and the equine 
tribes, as to the genus homo. The truth of the 
trite adage that “ it is hard to learn old dogs new 
tricks,” is not illustrated by the canine species 
alone. Not long ago we asked one who was 
driving a docile pair of oxen, how early he broke 
them to the yoke. “ Why ” said the youth, “ they 
were always broken.” That answer gives the 
whole gist of the matter. It is no trouble, but on 
the contrary, fun for the boys at least, to train up 
calves arid colts just in the way they should go, 
by beginning the work before they are three 
months old. 
We protest against putting any animals, hu¬ 
man or other, to severe labor before maturity of 
muscle is attained; but kind treatment, constant 
handling, halter breaking, yoking, and driving, are 
advantageously practiced with colts and calves of 
the tenderesl age. One who has not tried it will 
he surprised at the ease with which young ani¬ 
mals may be taught to obey. We have had colts 
not six months old that would come at the call of 
their names, kneel at the bidding, lift a fore-foot 
to the hand to be shaken when bidden a “good 
morning,” lay the head upon one’s breast when 
asked if they loved their master, lead by the halt¬ 
er as readily as an old horse, and submit to the 
mock saddle, to beating the hoof as if shoeing 
them, and so of other manipulations. And these 
colts never knew what it was to be “ broken.” 
We have seen calves driven about singly, and 
side by side, yoked and unyoked, made io change 
places, and sent away from the driver and called 
back again by simple’word of mouth. We have 
also seen them get down upon their knees, lift up 
any desired foot, etc., with the utmost readiness 
All this was accomplished by kind systematic 
treatment when growing up. A friend wo were 
just conversing with, tells us of the fine sport he 
used to have on moonlight evenings when a boy, 
with a regular steer team made up of nearly all 
the calves in the neighborhood. Fifteen to twen¬ 
ty pairs were sometimes brought together, fitted 
with rude light yokes, and the whole attached 
to a light sled, and driven along in great glee. It 
was difficult to say whether the calves or I lie 
boys enjoyed the sport the most. Such a team 
was far from presenting a mean appearance. And 
these exhibitions were of three-fold benefit. The 
boys were not only kept from mischief, but were 
learning useful lessons, and no little skill was de¬ 
veloped in constructing miniature yokes and oth¬ 
er tackling. The calves were being trained for 
useful docile working oxen. And further, the ex- 
