386 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JUNE 41 
breed largely predominates. Thus if the off 
spring of a grade Hereford is again crossed by 
a purc-bred Hereford, and the same practice is 
followed for a couple or more generations, the 
progeny will be "high-grades.” Close breed¬ 
ing is the coupling of animals that are closely 
related; while in-and-in breeding implies the 
closest possible relationship in the animals 
bred together.. 
High-breeding is sometimes used in the 
sense of close-breeding; but properly it means 
a careful selection of breeding stock with re¬ 
ference to a particular standard and within 
the limits of a particular family, regardless ot 
relationship. Breeding-in-the-line means the 
selection of males from a particular family, 
without reference to the quality or uniformity 
of the selected animals.. 
In speaking of the parentage of animals the 
term "got by ” or simply "by” refers to the 
sire and "out of ” to the dam— .. 
With regard to the recorded pedigrees of 
the different breeds of cattle, in the Short-horn 
and English Hereford Herd Books the mab s 
alone have a number, while the females are 
designated by the name of their sire followed 
by the word " by." In the Devon, Jersey, Am. 
Hereford and Ayrshire Herd Books both the 
females and males have distinguishing num¬ 
bers. Open numbers refer to the American Herd 
Book; those in parenthesis, ( ) to the English 
Herd Book, while the numbers of the Cana¬ 
dian 8hort-horB Herd Book are inclosed in 
brackets []..... 
To illustrate the abov^ here is the pedigree 
of the progenitor of the American Dukes of 
Airdrie, known in Kentucky as the "Old 
Duke 
9,798, Duke of Aibprie (12,730); red and 
of the farm into animal products of greater 
value... 
Among cattle the best animal is that which 
converts the largest amount of food into beef 
or milk of the beet quality, with the least 
possible waste of material.. 
It is a not uncommon error to imagine that 
animals that eat but little are the most profit¬ 
able ; so long as an animal is capable of digest¬ 
ing and assimilating it, the greater the amount 
of food it consumes the more profitable are the 
returns; for the proportion of the food that 
goes to supply the waste of tissue and rnn the 
animal machinery is less when a large than 
when a small amount is eaten... 
Animals with excellent digestive and assim¬ 
ilative capacity are therefore the best; for an 
animal that can digest and assimilate only 
enough to keep the animal machine in running 
order, is worthless; for it is only from the 
food assimilated in excess of this amount that 
any profit can be obtained. 
The great advantage of all the improved 
breeds of livestock over the common or "scrub” 
sorts is that they convert a larger proportion 
of the food they consume into animal products 
and these usually of a better quality.. 
In every breed of live-stock there are favor- 
1 ite families prized as breeders for the persist¬ 
ence with which they stamp their peculiar 
excellencies on their offspring. In the first 
rank among this 6ort of cattle are the Bates 
and Booth families of Short-horns, the Dlehley 
family of Long horns, the Ben. Tompkins 
sort of Herefords and, of late among us, 
the Alphea family of Jerseys. 
Atavism— from alavus, an ancestor—is that 
form of heredity in which any peculiarity of 
an ancestor, more or lesB remote, whether of 
on their own native hills, develop so slowly 
that heifers, it is said, do not breed until six or 
seven years old. Animals of this breed well 
cared for In Massachusetts, grow larger, ma¬ 
ture earlier, and the heifers breed when three 
years old—an instance of the effect of environ¬ 
ment on development... 
When twin calves are produced, one a male 
and the other a female, the latter is called a 
free-martin, and in nearly every case Is barren; 
the reproductive organs being generally imper¬ 
fect, partaking of the characteristics of both 
male and female organs. When grown the fe¬ 
males frequently resemble 6teers. The bull, in 
such cases, is fertile. When both twins are fe¬ 
males the reproductive powers are not im¬ 
paired.... 
According to M. Thury's theory of sex, 
this "depends upon the degree of maturity of 
the egg at the moment of fecundation, that 
which has reached a certaiu degree of matu¬ 
rity producing a female, and, if fecundated 
when this point haB been passed, producing a 
male,” so that if females are served during the 
first half of the period of heat, female off¬ 
springs should largely predominate ; but if 
they are served during the last half, males 
should be the more numerous. Experience, 
however, does not appear to support this 
theory.... 
What is called the 8tuyvesant theory of 
breeding is that the sex of the offspring de¬ 
pends entirely on the femali, and that every 
alternate egg or ovum presented for impreg 
nation iB female. Accordingly, after a cow 
has produced a heifer calf, Mr, S. does notallow 
her to be served when first she comeB in sea¬ 
son ; but waits until the first part of the second 
heat. Should she not " catch,” he again waits 
" points” rather than of qualities really use¬ 
ful. When a peculiarity, even if trivial in 
itself, is characteristic of the breed or of some 
family in it of extraordinary excellence, it can¬ 
not be considered a "fancy point,” and is of 
real value as an indication of the inheritance 
of the qualities of the breed or family. 
" Fatty degeneration,” a frequent cause 
of sterility, is the transformation of the sub¬ 
stance of the generative organs into fatty tis¬ 
sue. Dr. Carpenter sayB this form of degen¬ 
eration, which Is common to nearly all tissues, 
consists in the conversion of their albumin¬ 
ous or gelatinous materials into tat. The re¬ 
productive organs of very fat animals are of¬ 
ten affected with fatty degeneration to an ex¬ 
tent that entirely destroys their functional 
activity,....*..... 
The average period of gestation in a cow 
is 285 days, the extremes in 1 907 cases being 
220 and 313 days ; only a,very small proportion, 
however, were under 260 or over 295. 
Beasts with Bmall chestB do not fatten 
readily and are very susceptible to disease. 
Varro compares tillage and the keeping of 
live stock to two different-sounding instru¬ 
ments in an orchestra, and he terms the graz¬ 
ier’s trade the treble and the tiller’s occupation 
the base, each aiding in the harmony as a 
•whole.Fitzherbert puts the same idea. 
POLLED ANGUS HEIFER, PRINCESS 8th.—FROM A PHOTOGRAPH.—FIG. 297. 
white, bred by R. A. Alexander, Airdrie, 
Scotland, and imported to his farm in Wood¬ 
ford Co., Ky.; calved Ang. 4. 1854, got by imp. 
Duke of GiOSter, 2.763 (11.382), out of Duchess 
of Athol, by 2 l Duke of Oxtoid (9 046),—Duch¬ 
ess 34th. by Cleveland Lad (S 408).—Duchess 
49:h, ty Short Tail (1 423),—Duchess 20th. by 
2d Earl (1.511).—Duchess 8th, oy Mimke (418), 
Duchess 2 i, by Ketton 1st (709).—Duchess 1st, 
by Com<-i (.55),—by Favorite (252),—by Hub- 
back (319) —the S-anwick Cow, by J B.owu’s 
ltd bull (07). This is from "The American 
Short-horu Held Book,” Vol. X, puge 107, 
compiled by our contributor Lewis F. Allen. 
The dash — is used to indicate the "next 
dam,” to economize space.,. 
Mr Bakewell regarded live stock as ma¬ 
chines for converting the vegetable products 
form, color, habits, mental trails or predispo¬ 
sition to disease, makes ite appearance in the 
offspring without having been observed in the 
parent. Darwin calls it " reversion," and the 
farming community have loDg known it by a 
variety of names, such as " throwing back," 
" harking hack," "crying back," "breeding 
back,” etc.,. 
It is the tendency to "breed back” in this 
way that renders cross bred animals as breed¬ 
ers of little value for the improvement of 
stock; for this tendency iB fouud to be very 
strong, and generally lowards inferior ances¬ 
tral qualities, probably because the superior 
qualities of the better-bred parent are more 
artificial.. 
The small, hardy Kerry cattle of Ireland, 
owing to the scanty food got with much effort 
till heat number four, passing over number 
three, and so on until she does "catch.” If 
she has produced a bull calf, however, 6he is 
served the first time she comes in season. 
"Fancy points” ate peculiarities of form 
or color that do not represent any valuable 
qualities. The solid color and black points 
of the Jerseys, the red and daik roan of the 
Short-horn. aOw so fashionable, are cates in 
point_"Solid colors" are uniform colors, 
in eoutradistinclion to mixed or mottled.... 
The black points of a Jersty, aie a black nose 
and switch, and black tips to the horns. Un¬ 
due attention to the production of "fancy 
points" tends to retard improvement in breeds 
and lessen their value for practical purposes 
by encouraging the selection of breediug 
stock with a view to the production of these 
thus: "An husbande cannot well thryve by 
his come without he have other cattel, nor by 
his cattel without corne, for els he shall be a 
byer, a borrower, or a beggar.”.Mr. 
DBlas, a« reported iu transactions of the High¬ 
land Agricultural Society, says that the male, 
when crossed on the same variety, has the 
greatest influence ou the external appearance 
of the offspring and the female on its internal 
qualities, and a large portion of modern writ¬ 
ers on breeding quote the theory with approval. 
There are strong objections, however. 
As an instance of atavism, Mr. Goodale relates, 
in his Principles of Breeders, that for rnauy 
years there were a few polled cattle in the 
Kennebec Valley, Conn. For 35 years after the 
last of them was killed the cattle ou Mr. Win¬ 
gate’s farm all had horns, but at the end o 
