AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
371 
being broken into ripples, and presenting an 
enlarged and constantly renewed surface to the 
atmosphere. 
With regard to waters naturally impure, it is 
manifest, that whatever good offices are justly 
ascribable to pure water, appertain to them 
also—they furnish all needed moisture and may 
finally be presumed to convey nutritious gases 
from the air to the roots of plants; and in addi¬ 
tion to this they furnish soluble salts and solu¬ 
ble geine, or humus for the present use of the 
plants, and more or less of insoluable matters 
for their future use. 
As regards the superior value of waters arti¬ 
ficially impure—made so by receiving the sew¬ 
erage of cities and towns—there is no mystery 
in the case. The water in this case, as for in¬ 
stance, in the irrigated fields in the neighbor¬ 
hood of Edinburgh, is made the carrier of vast 
amounts of highly fertilizing matter, from the 
city to the fields. 
I must defer for some future occasion, what I 
had intended to say on the best modes of irriga¬ 
ting lands. 
Amherst, Feb. 6, 1854. 
Points by which lean Cattle are to be Selected. 
We recommend a careful perusal of the fol¬ 
lowing article to all who are engaged in breed¬ 
ing or feeding cattle. We know nothing better 
on this subject. The writer is evidently both 
practically and theoretically familiar with all its 
details. A single article like this, or the one on 
Farm Horses, which we gave in No. 23, is alone 
well worth the annual subscription price of our 
paper to the breeder. 
The first point to be ascertained is the purity 
of the breed of the animal whatever it may be, 
as by that point the propensity or degree of 
disposition to fatten is determined in the indi¬ 
viduals of the special progeny. Several marks 
will show the purity of the breed; the color is 
a good mark, when the colors are always defi¬ 
nite. The bald skin around the eyes and nose 
is always unspotted and definite in animals of 
good organization. The horns, when present, 
are long or short, according to the breed; 
smooth and tapering; white throughout in 
some varieties, and tipped with black in others. 
The shape of the horn is not an essential point. 
The form of the carcase is the next important 
consideration, and may probably be said to be 
the chief point of attention, and to outweigh the 
quality of the breed. Lean animals may be 
supposed to exist in a quarter to a half-fattened 
condition, and in that state the same properties 
of conformation may be seen as in the matured 
condition of fat. If the quantity of flesh that is 
present does not exhibit the necessary points, 
the bones must be nicely examined, if they are 
so connected as to afford the points in the future 
process of fattening, These points are the same 
as have been mentioned in the prime condition 
in our last article, and a very acute discernment 
is required to discover the presence of these 
points in the lean condition of the beast. The 
judge must anticipate the realization of the 
points from the lean to the fattened condition. 
The nature of the bone requires much atten¬ 
tion ; a round thick bone indicates a slow feeder, 
and also an inferior description of flesh. The 
opposite properties of a round bone are indi¬ 
cated by the flat bone, when seen on a side 
view, and narrow when viewed from behind or 
before the animal. As the bones are the walls 
of the animal habitation, and serve the purpose 
of carrying or supporting the flesh, the quantity 
must bear to the whole carcase the smallest 
possible ratio that is proper to the economy of 
structure. The texture of the bone should be 
small-grained and hard; the bones of the head 
fine and clean, and not carrying ficsh to give 
the ox a heavy-headed and dull appearance. In 
order to endure traveling, the hock and forearm 
should be clean and muscular. Large joints 
indicate bad feeders. The neck of the ox is 
small from the back of the head to the middle 
of the neck, and contrary to the sheep in this 
respect. 
The eye is a strong index of good breeding, 
or refinement in the organization, in being full, 
clear, and prominent; quick, but not fiery, and 
placid, along with a large expression, which 
indicates many properties in the ox, and is 
always attendant on fine bone. A dull, heavy 
eye indicates a slow feeder; and a rolling eye, 
showing much white, is expressive of a restless, 
capricious disposition, which is incompatible 
with quiet feeding. A calm, complacent visage 
strongly indicates a fine and patient disposition, 
and, of course, kindly feeling. The eye most 
often tells the condition of health; a cheerful 
organ accompanies good health, while a con¬ 
stantly dull eye proves the probable existence 
of some internal lingering disease. But the 
latter property is quite different in character 
from a natural or constitutional, phlegmatic 
dullness. 
Next must be ascertained the Estate of the 
skin. The “touch” is afforded by the skin, and 
the feeding properties of an ox are judged by 
that criterion beyond any other means that can 
be applied. The touch may be hard or mellow, 
fine or harsh, good or bad, as it is frequently 
termed. A slow feeder is marked by having a 
thick-set, hard, short hair, which constitutes a 
bad touch; a thin, meagre, papery skin, covered 
with thin silky hair, though the opposite to the 
one just mentioned, does not constitute a good 
touch, but is indicative of weakness of constitu¬ 
tion, though probably of good feeding proper¬ 
ties. A good touch will be found in a thick 
loose skin, floating as it were on a layer of soft 
fat, yielding to the least pressure, and springing 
back towards the fingers like a piece of soft, 
thick, chamois leather, and covered with thick, 
glossy, soft hair; the hair looks rich and beau¬ 
tiful, and seems warm and comfortable to the 
animal. A curly pile of the hair indicates a 
vigor of constitution, and also a propensity to 
fatten; such a skin is termed gelatinous and 
resilient in the fashionable language of the day, 
and mossy, from resembling a bed of fine soft 
moss. The sensation of a fine touch is very 
gratifying to every judge and amateur of breed¬ 
ing ; the animal is liked, and more especially as 
it is mostly accompanied by a symmetrical form. 
Long practice is required to appreciate a fine 
touch; but when it is acquired, it is alone suffi¬ 
cient to estimate the feeding properties of an 
ox, as a general refinement of organization ac¬ 
companies it, in purity of blood, gentle dispo¬ 
sition, fine bone, and the other properties of 
symmetrical form. 
The terms that are used in the science and 
practice of breeding, as blood, breed, pedigree, 
and descent, are all contained in the one desig¬ 
nation of a refined organism, which compre¬ 
hends a general refinement in every part, in the 
proportion which the extremities bear to the 
body, and to one another. Of all parts of the 
frame the head is the most difficult of the proper 
refinement, and it accordingly denotes in no 
small degree the state of purity in which the 
animal exists as to the special excellence. The 
head must be small in comparison with the 
body, and neat and clean. The face must be 
long from the eyes to the point of the nose, 
which most essentially constitutes the handsome 
appearance. The skull must be broad between 
the eyes, and taper very considerably and regu¬ 
larly to the nose. The muzzle is fine and small, 
and nostrils capacious. The skull contracts 
little above the eyes, the crown of the head is 
flat and strong, and the horns protrude hori¬ 
zontally from each side, and afterwards assume 
the medium direction between the rectangle. 
The curvature should scarcely reach the ver¬ 
tical line from the root of the horn; and if the 
point does reach it, the further progress is not 
allowed. The horn is short, rather thin, and 
thickening to the root, which is a mark of 
vigor and functional strength. The ears should 
be large and somewhat erect, tapering in the 
form, agile in motion, and silky in the hair. 
The neck must be of medium length, short 
rather than long, which marks a strong pro¬ 
pensity to fatten, and is attended with a full 
neck vein. It must join the shoulder with a 
very gradual slope, and taper to the head, hav¬ 
ing little or no rise from the top of the shoulder 
to the root of the horns, to destroy the straight 
line along the back to the plumb line of the 
buttocks, over the set of the tail. A droop of 
the neck from the top of the shoulder to the 
head indicates a weakness of constitution, and 
too close affinity in breeding. The legs below 
the knee should be rather short than long, and 
clean made. They should stand wide apart, 
and placed to support the body very easily. 
The tail shows a refined organization, and also 
a debilitated constitution from too near affin¬ 
ities. In the pig, these two properties are soon 
apparent. In cattle it should be clean, of long 
hair, of medium thickness, and furnished at the 
end with a handsome brush or tuft of strong 
bristles. 
The chest of the ox must be wide, in order 
to afford ample room to the actions of the flux 
and reflux of life. A slightly truncated cone is 
the best representation of the chest—wide be¬ 
low, and tapering to a round top of the shoulder, 
which should be covered with flesh. The 
shoulder-bone must slope into and join the fore 
ribs, so as to prevent any vacuity in the fore¬ 
girth, and the arch of the ribs from the back¬ 
bone terminates in the undercenter of the belly, 
so as to make a straight line with the shoulder. 
The short ribs must join close to the hook-bone, 
and not leave a deep hollow gap; the hook- 
bones are wide apart, in order to give the utmost 
expansion; buttocks broad, deep, and straight; 
twist wide; set of the tail low, and the hanging 
of it perpendicular, without any bends. 
The length of the tail reaches the heels. The 
flank of the animal, or fleshy ligature which 
joins the lower belly with the hip, must be 
large, full, and prominent, being much required 
to continue over the thigh, to the plumb line of 
the buttock from the root of the tail, the 
straight line from the shoulder along the ex¬ 
treme ribs of the animal, which constitutes the 
side of the parallelogram, which figure a fat¬ 
tened carcase is expected to represent. The 
belly must not hang down in a loose dependence 
but be easily carried by a straight line from 
betwixt the fore legs to the twist and outside 
the hams. On the other hand, the entrails 
must not be too much curtailed, to destroy the 
vigor of function that is so essentially neces¬ 
sary to the prosperity of animal life. 
The joints must be flat and broad on the legs 
of animals; bones round on the top of the 
shoulder, hooks, and fore legs; clean and thin 
in.the hind legs, and of the chaps ; flat in the 
shoulders and thighs, and low along the back, 
ending in the extremity of the tail. The hoofs 
must be clean and neatly fashioned, short and 
well rounded, bright in color, and not covered 
with any hair. The extent of foot must be pro¬ 
portional to the carcase to be carried, but al¬ 
ways small rather than large. 
All improved breeding has proceeded from 
the casual productions of nature which are seen 
to possess the properties that constitute value 
and also a capability of transmitting the quali¬ 
ties to their progeny. The rules and considera¬ 
tions that have been now detailed may be im¬ 
possible of application in the whole number, 
but a major part of them will constitute a 
direction of judgment for practical use. The 
chief difficulty occurs in the case of the lean 
ox, as the condition of the fattened animal very 
often conceals the deformities of shape, and 
may even produce in itself some symmetrical 
objections. The judge examines the points of 
value in the flesh, both in quantity and quality, 
estimates the weight, and fixes the probable 
value. But, in judging of a lean ox, its future 
