4 
ON BREEDING. 
when taken from under his management; but this was occa¬ 
sioned by the igmorance of the parties, who, instead of excluding 
the imperfect, and breeding only from those that were perfect, 
left every thing to chance; by which act of inconsistency 
unions were formed that very likely caused a degeneracy in¬ 
stead of an improvement. Another cause' of failure which has 
happened to those who were ambitious of breeding animals 
similar to the late Mr. Bakewell, was owing to the different 
system adopted in their manner of rearing. Mr. Bakewell had 
only one object in view, and that was, to obtain an exuberance 
in the flesh and size of his animals. This he accomplished by 
an abundant supply of food, such as milk, grain, &c. &c. from 
the time the animal quitted the mother, accompanied with w arm 
and comfortable lodgings, regardless of the expense: indeed, 
they may be said to have lived an artificial life. No w onder, 
then, that animals so fed could not be brought to the same per¬ 
fection under a different management, when, instead of a bucket 
or two of milk and a gallon or two of corn daily, they w ere fed 
entirely on grass and hay. 
Although w e cannot commend this practice for general pur¬ 
poses, yet it does not prove his system to be erroneous. One 
thing we are certain of; that although there was some mystery 
attached to his system, yet the improvements which he effected 
in live stock in particular is well knowm to be great. 
Causa Iatet; res est notissima. 
The cause is secret, but the effect is known. Addison. 
Mr. Bakewell’s contemporaries give him the credit of being 
an ingenious and practical breeder. His valuable stock was 
reared wholly from consanguinity, and, we repeat it, with a 
continual improvement. He was too good a judge to breed 
from animals possessing hereditary taint; for a judicious breeder 
would, upon examination, point out in what they must ultimately - 
fail, as a mechanic would discover the weakest part of a ma¬ 
chine before it gives way. 
There are cases in w r hich the breeder may certainly be de¬ 
ceived ; for some horses, for instance, although perfectly sound 
in their eyes, have been the means of producing in their off¬ 
spring that curse on all good horse-flesh —specific ophthalmia: 
yet a person must be blind indeed that would run the risk of 
breeding from a blind stallion. The latter case may, therefore, 
be very easily avoided by merely making use of their eyes; and 
the former one also, if the breeder attends to the rules laid 
down on the subject of “ descent.” And where there is the 
