THE CULTIVATOR. 
149 
So here was a breeder, a- 
gainst whom A. B. A. dare 
not wag his tongue, guilty 
of what he elegantly cha¬ 
racterizes, when suggest 
as possible by you, “as 
gross and perfect a piece of 
absurdity as we ever heard.” 
It will require more than a 
sneer to make breeders be¬ 
lieve that this infusion of in¬ 
ferior blood has ruined the 
superior breed, since there 
is scarce a herd of Short 
Horns in the United States 
that cannot be traced to this 
source. Yet according to 
“ the only true principle ” 
of A. B. A., this cross ought 
to have given the alloy” 
all the bad points of the in¬ 
ferior breed, left the Short 
Horns without any horns at 
all, and thrown back the 
improved breed to the con-, 
dition in which it was be¬ 
fore. It either did this, or 
the true principle of A. B. 
A. must be classed with his 
other repudiated ones. Let 
breeders decide. 
Now, Messrs. Editors, the 
object to be kept in view 
is the improvement of the 
stock of the whole country 
as fast as possible, and I be¬ 
lieve the method pointed out 
by your article is the way to 
do this. Certain it is, that 
if it should be adopted, the 
demand for pure blood ani¬ 
mals, for a time, would be 
increased a hundred fold. 
Every farmer who could obtain a pure blood bull,would 
find that by doing as Colling did, taking one cross from 
the best native cows he could find, and then breeding 
back to the pure blood, his stock would rapidly im¬ 
prove; while no good reason can be given why an ac¬ 
tual advance towards greater perfection should not be 
made by such crosses now, as well as in the case of Col¬ 
ling himself. A Bkeeder. 
IMPROVEMENT OF DOMESTIC STOCK. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —^Your article under 
this head, in the July no. of the Cultivator, has elicited 
from Mr. Allen, in the August no. of the Agriculturist, 
some remarks of disapprobation. I am not about to 
obtrude myself as an ally in defence of the positions you 
have assumed; you are undoubtedly able to fight your 
own battles; but some of Mr. Allen's ideas have induced 
me to propound to him, through this medium, a few 
interrogatories. Mr. A. says:— 
“Now the only true principle of improvement in 
breeding which we ever heard of, is this: if an ani¬ 
mal be deficient in any one point, or more, it must 
be crossed by another animal equal to it in all its good 
points, and superior to it in all its deficient ones; and 
then the chance barely is, that one-half of the pro¬ 
duce may be equal to the superior animal thus used in 
the cross, and the other half not inferior to the poor¬ 
est.” 
Now if this is “ the only true principle of improve¬ 
ment in breeding,” how would it be possible for the 
progeny ever to attain any greater perfection than was 
possessed by the progenitors? Suppose a breeder to have 
cows that possess, say ten good points, which he puts 
to a bull that has twenty,—by this principle, if I under¬ 
stand it, the offspring would have fifteen, and the off¬ 
spring of these, bred to a bull of twenty good points, 
■would have seventeen and a half; and how could the 
breeder ever obtain in the progeny as much perfection 
as one of the progenitors had in the beginning? And 
how have animals ever been produced that were any 
better than others which have preceded them, or how 
can we hope to produce such? How could Bakewell, 
on this principle alone, have ever bred any better cattle 
or sheep than he had in the beginning? Or is it denied 
that Bakewell, as well as Colling and others, ever made 
any actual improvement on the stock with which they 
commenced? 
It has been asserted that there is “ one man's herd" in 
England that are so much superior to all others, that we 
should look to them alone for improvement; and if 
there are animals in that herd which are really superior 
to their progenitors, by what “principle of improve¬ 
ment in breeding” did they become so? 
As this is an important subject, I trust the public may 
receive all the information upon it which anyone is able 
to give. 
As to the milking properties of the improved Short 
Horns, I hope their breeders will not take your remarks 
on this point in dudgeon, (for I see no evidence that they 
were dictated by prejudice or ill will,) but let those 
breeders come up promptly to the work of demonstra¬ 
tion, and that will be the end of argument. Let a fair 
and full exhibition be made of the products of the Short 
Horn dairies, and a comparison instituted between these 
and others, and that will settle the point. Until this is 
done, writing and talking are of little use. 
The origin of the improved Short Horns, is a subject 
that may open a wider field of controversy than it may 
be expedient to enter upon at this time. ‘f. 
DURHAM BULL OSCEOLA_(Fig. 70.) 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker— I herewith send you a 
portrait of my Short Horn Bull Osceola, taken by that 
excellent artist, T. K. Van Zandt, in which he has done 
himself great credit. 
Osceola is a pure white animal, and was calved 30th 
April, 1842. He was bred by Henry Whitney, Esq., 
New-Haven, Conn., (whose stock you will remember, 
was so justly admired at the State Fair last fall;) got by 
Tempest—dam, Ringlet by Belshazzar, 1704—gr. dam. 
Rose by Navigator, 1260—g. g. d. by Jasper, 331—g. g. 
g. d. by Marshal. Beresford, 415—g. g. g. g. d. by Ce¬ 
cil, 120—g. g. g. g. g. d. by a son of Favorite, 252. 
Tempest, by Merryman—dam, Strawberry, (consider¬ 
ed by judges the best animal of her kind in the country,) 
by Ambo, 1636—gr. dam. Fair Helen by Young Albi¬ 
on, 15—g. g. d. Miss Foote by Pilot, 498—g. g. g. d. 
Fair Maid by Agamemnon, 9—g. g. g. g. d. Madam by 
Marshal Beresford, 415—g. g. g. g. g. d. Tube Rose by 
the Lame Bull, 359—g. g. g. g. g. g. d. Moss Rose by 
Suwarrow, 636. Merryman by Berryman—Berryman 
by Henwood—Henwood by Wharfdale. 
I will merely add that Ringlet the dam, was imported 
by Mr. Whitney, and that Tempest the sire was imported 
in Strawberry. Yours, &c. 
Clarkson F. Crosby. 
Wateroliet, JV. Y., Aug. 21, 1843. 
and humidity of the western 
country, will always sub¬ 
ject it more or less to mala¬ 
ria, and an abundance of an¬ 
noying insects. Sheep ap¬ 
pear very sensitive when 
stung by these carniverous 
insects, which do not abound 
with us in great numbers. 
Another objection is, their 
winters are not so even as 
they are with us. We have 
but a few days variation in 
the length of our winters, 
and lay in stores to feed our 
sheep from the middle of No¬ 
vember to the latter part of 
April. But at the west, they 
fluctuate; some yeai'S they 
experience but little or no 
winters. 1 gathered from the 
western papers, that the last 
winter was windy, long and 
cold, which held out five 
months longer than usual. A 
poor calculation could be 
made for such a winter. Sup¬ 
pose that millions of sheep 
were on these prairies last 
winter, most of them would 
inevitably have perished, 
which would put a damper 
on the most resolute. I con¬ 
tend that no breed of fine 
wooled sheep can succeed 
well in a level windy country 
No animal appears more sen. 
sitive than the sheep in a 
wind; they turn like a weath¬ 
ercock; only there is this dif¬ 
ference, instead of heading 
the wind, they wheel the oth¬ 
er way. The}"- are careful 
SHEEP ON THE PRAIRIES. 
Messrs. Editors —Now a days much is said about 
covering the western praii-ies with sheep. I never visit¬ 
ed them; but when I hear of the laudable terms in which 
they are represented, as opening a great field for the 
flockmaster, it puts me in mind of some of the disadvan¬ 
tages as well as advantages in raising sheep there. I 
will give some hints wherein I think it might prove an 
unsuccessful operation. I have no doubt but that some 
parts may do tolerably well, while others are very unfa¬ 
vorable and uncertain for this delicate animal. I am in¬ 
clined to believe that the western country at large is not 
as favorable as Vermont for wool growing. ' 
In fact, I do not know of any large tract of country, 
where sheep succeed as well on level lands as they do on 
more hilly and mountainous. I understand that the prai¬ 
ries and a great portion of the western states are level, 
or are not interspersed with ranges of mountains sulfl- 
cient to break off the sweeping winds. Large prairies 
are subject to heavy wind and storms, and there is a damp¬ 
ness that prevails throughout that western country, called 
nig'ht air, which we do not experience much of near the 
Green mountains. Sheep are fond of hills; it is their na¬ 
ture; they climb them to seek a lodging ground to rest 
through the night, where they can breathe the free and 
pure air. England and Ireland have tried the experi¬ 
ment faithfully on the various breeds of merinoes, with 
very little success; which is more probably O'wing to 
the evenness of the country, subject to winds, and the 
general danipness of that climate. The stagnant pools 
to select, on the appearance of a storm, the best shelter 
within their reach. Heavy rains injure them, and noth¬ 
ing is worse than sleet, or a rain that freezes as it falls. 
Nearly half of our water falls in snow, which does not 
injure sheep at all. When out of the wind, they appear 
to enjoy themselves as much in a heavy snow storm as 
they do in a clear day. The northern part of New-York 
is a fine grazing country, but is not as well adapted for 
sheep as Vermont. The objection in St. Lawrence and 
Franklin counties, of a level and rather wind}'- country, 
is, in my opinion, the cause of such mortality among 
them. 
Much is said about prairie grass being excellent for 
sheep; it may answer for small flocks, but I have my 
doubts about stocking as close as we do in Vermont, or 
anything like it. Sheep will subsist in the woods, give 
him a large range to select his foliage, but put him into 
eat all within his reach, or one-tenth part, and he would 
sicken and die. White clover they eat with avidit}^; we 
abound in that kind of grass; our fields on this day, lite¬ 
rally white with its blossoms. 
Some say that government lands can be occupied for 
grazing without rent fee; no doubt but something may 
be done that way, but no permanent chance presents it¬ 
self, and no prudent flockmaster will ever depend on 
government lands to keep a very large flock. Wolves that 
abound in these western prairies would make sad havoc 
among them also. And there are other obstacles which 
present themselves, of great account, more to disparage 
than any I have mentioned. It is the distempers that 
may prevail among them. Scale and foot rot are con¬ 
tagious diseases; and what, let me ask, can any breeder 
do, if this distemper be spread over the western wilds, 
among his ‘‘ thousands of sheep?” Methinks that in that 
humid climate and level country, where great flocks 
range together, there would be many ragged coats and 
sore toes, from one year's end to another. Neither of 
the above diseases can be eradicated, while they occupy 
the same grounds, without heavy frosts. This will kill 
all the infection lodged on the ground; but as long as 
frosts hold off, so long the exposure is before them. No¬ 
thing but small flocks, and small enclosures that will 
keep separate flocks of one hundred or less, -will give the 
shepherd any chance.of success in curing these diseases. 
But when they are in long ranges, no enclosures, and 
large herds together, it will baffle the most skillful to 
cure these contagious disorders. 
Every soil and climate has its peculiarities, better 
adapted for certain productions than any other country. 
The raising of cotton, for instance, in the East Indies, 
has been trumpeted in the ears of the cotton growers of 
the southern states, that they were soon to be crowded 
out of the markets of Europe, but it appears on a fair 
trial that they never can compete with us; there proves 
to be many objections in situation and climate that cannot 
be overcome, and such cotton as they do raise is inferior 
in qualify to ours. 
• I am not yet alarmed about the ruin of Vermont in the 
great and successful competition at the west, in the grow¬ 
ing of wool. If some of those objections that I have 
mentioned can be easily overcome, I think that others 
among them are formidable ones. Time will test the 
question, and we shall continue on in our usual avoca¬ 
tions until we find others more pleasant and profitable. 
Yours, S. W. Jewett. 
Weybridge, Vt., July 19, 1843. 
