44 
IMPROVED BREEDS OF CATTLE-THEIR INHERITABLE QUALITIES. 
IMPROVED BREEDS OF CATTLE—THEIR INHERI¬ 
TABLE QUALITIES. 
We heir frequent discussions from time to time, 
and nowhere in greater abundance than among 
the wise heads of the east, while familiarly con¬ 
gregated as the aggregate agricultural wisdom 
of some legislative body, on the superlative 
merits of our native breeds of cattle. And in this 
prolific and never-ending, and perhaps it might 
be justly enough characterised, no-point discus¬ 
sion, we hear the Oaks cow and the Nurse cow 
always brought forward, as conclusively set¬ 
tling the points in favor of “ our native cattle.” 
The most of this branch of their discussions, we 
must class as pure twaddle. 
We have no such thing as native cattle in the 
strictest sense of the word. Neither cattle nor 
sheep, nor horses, nor even swine were found 
an this continent, herding with the aborigines 
and their scarcely less wild associates, the 
deer and the wolf, the elk and the bear, the moose 
and the catamount. They were imported— 
every drop of the ancestral blood—by their Eu¬ 
ropean masters, and bore as distinctly as any 
breed of the present day, the peculiarities of 
their race. These peculiarities have been mod¬ 
ified from time to time, by the importation of 
various improved animals, which, if our forefa¬ 
thers had any notions of improvement, (and we 
readily concede them a good many, in their 
way,) they would not have failed to use for the im¬ 
provement of their old stock. The same motive 
for progress would also induce them to breed 
their animals with some reference to the good 
qualities of their ancestors. The result of all 
this would be, the not unfrequent possession 
of excellent specimens, derivable in most in¬ 
stances, perhaps, from the direct use of choice 
imported animals of some favorite or superior 
breeds. Nobody has traced the parentage of 
those celebrated milkers, the Oaks and the Nurse 
cows; and we venture the assertion, that had 
this been accurately done, there would have 
been found, and not far before them, some 
choice animal, whose peculiar excellence had 
been augmented by some unusually fortunate 
combination. Yet there was not enough of 
this inbred superiority to stamp it indelibly up¬ 
on their progeny, for it is not asserted, that 
any of these animals left any posterity, at all 
distinguished for their milking qualities. 
Per contra. We can show in many of the 
shorthorn herds, that are looked down upon 
with so much self-complacency by these anti¬ 
improvers, numerous instances of larger judd¬ 
ers, whether of milk or butter, and what is of a 
great deal more consequence, we can show their 
relations, whether in the ascending or descend¬ 
ing line, as uniformly possessing this quality. 
Here is the great and overshadowing superiori¬ 
ty of the improved breed —transmissible qualities , 
reliable and unmistakable; and we claim, too, for 
this breed, that while they are superior as milk¬ 
ers, and some families of them immeasurably 
so, when they have ceased to yield an abun¬ 
dant flow of milk, they will take on flesh 
as rapidly as any other breeds, and much more 
so than most of the falsely-styled natives. 
We have selected the shorthorns as illustra¬ 
ting the principle we wish to establish, but of 
course are not to be understood as limiting the 
improvements to this or any other breed. Each 
has its peculiar merits, more especially adapt¬ 
ing it to particular localities, or to different pur¬ 
poses. 
TO CURE STINGS AND BITES. 
Wash the wound with water of ammonia, 
or a solution of chloride of lime. If the bite is 
very poisonous, in addition to the above, cau¬ 
terise it with lunar caustic. Bites of dogs sup¬ 
posed to be mad, have been seceessfully treated 
in this way. 
For the bite of a snake, where no other rem¬ 
edy is at hand, let the patient be made deadly 
drunk as soon as possible; this will save life 
upon the principle of the greater poison coun¬ 
teracting the lesser one. For hydrophobia, a 
new remedy has been discovered lately in 
France. The drug is called cedran. It is 
said to counteract, also, the bite of the rattle¬ 
snake. 
Plaster Upon Clover. —With the exception 
of a small district near the sea shore, clover is 
greatly benefited by the application of plaster 
of Paris. About one bushel to the acre is, per¬ 
haps, the most suitable quantity. Apply it up¬ 
on a moist day, early in the spring. Ammonia 
is constantly brought to the earth by dews, 
rains, or snow, and the plaster acts as a col¬ 
lector of this fertilising matter, and preserves it 
for the use of the plant. 
To Tame a Wild Sheep.— One of our subscri¬ 
bers informs us, that cutting the ears or tail of a 
sheep so the blood will run somewhat freely, 
has a tendency to tame a sheep quicker than 
any other means within his knowledge. We 
saw the experiment tried upon a stout wether, 
that was somewhat fractious; as soon as he saw 
the blood trickling down his face, he lay 
down and submitted to the hopples without a 
struggle. 
