The Principles of Breeding Part 7

The lethargic temperament characteristic of the Short-horn and which in the grades results in the greater quietness and docility so highly valued, necessarily unfits them for active work; pure bred animals being altogether too sluggish for profitable labor. This temperament is inseparably connected with their apt.i.tude to fatten and early maturity, and these both demand abundant and nutritious food beyond the ability of many to supply and at the same time are incompatible with the activity of habit and hard service demanded of the working ox.

The NORTH DEVONS are deemed to be of longer standing than any other of the distinct breeds of England, and they have been esteemed for their good qualities for several centuries. Mr. George Turner, a noted breeder of Devons, describes them as follows:--"Their color is generally a bright red, but varying a little either darker or more yellow; they have seldom any white except about the udder of the cow or belly of the bull, and this is but little seen. They have long yellowish horns, beautifully and gracefully curved, noses or muzzles white, with expanded nostrils, eyes full and prominent, but calm, ears of moderate size and yellowish inside, necks rather long, with but little dewlap, and the head well set on, shoulders oblique with small points or marrow bones, legs small and straight and feet in proportion. The chest is of moderate width, and the ribs round and well expanded, except in some instances, where too great attention has been paid to the hind quarters at the expense of the fore, and which has caused a falling off, or flatness, behind the shoulders. The loins are first rate, wide, long and full of flesh, hips round and of moderate width; rumps level and well filled at the bed; tail full near the rump and tapering much at the top. The thighs of the cows are occasionally light, but the bull and ox are full of muscle, with a deep and rich flank. On the whole there is scarcely any breed of cattle so rich and mellow in its touch, so silky and fine in its hair, and altogether so handsome in its appearance, as the North Devon, added to which they have a greater proportion of weight in the most valuable joints and less in the coa.r.s.e, than any other breed, and also consume less food in its production.

As milkers they are about the same as most other breeds;--the general average of a dairy of cows being about one pound of b.u.t.ter per day from each cow during the summer months, although in some instances the very best bred cows give a great deal more.

As working oxen they greatly surpa.s.s any other breed. They are perfectly docile and excellent walkers, are generally worked until five or six years old, and then fattened at less expense than most other oxen."

The author of the report on the live stock shown at the exhibition of the Royal Agricultural Society at Warwick in 1859 (Mr. Robert Smith) says:

"Although little has been written on it, the improvement of the Devon has not been neglected; on the contrary, its breeding has been studied like a science, and carried into execution with the most sedulous attention and dexterity for upwards of two hundred years. The object of the Devon breeder has been to lessen those parts of the animal frame which are least useful to man, such as the bone and offal, and at the same time to increase such other parts (flesh and fat) as furnish man with food. These ends have been accomplished by a judicious selection of individual animals possessing the wished for form and qualities in the highest degree, which being perpetuated in their progeny in various proportions, and the selection being continued from the most approved specimens among these, enabled the late Mr. Francis Quartly at length to fully establish the breed with the desired properties. This result is substantially confirmed by the statistics contained in Davy's 'Devon Herd-Book.' We have been curious enough to examine these pedigrees, and find that nine-tenths of the present herds of these truly beautiful animals are directly descended (especially in their early parentage) from the old Quartly stock.

Later improvements have been engrafted on these by the Messrs. Quartly of the present day. The example of various opulent breeders and farmers in all parts of the country has tended to spread this improvement, by which the North Devon cattle have become more general and fashionable. The leading characteristics of the North Devon breed are such as qualify them for every hardship. They are cast in a peculiar mold, with a degree of elegance in their movement which is not to be excelled. Their hardihood, resulting from compactness of frame and lightness of offal, enables them (when wanted) to perform the operations of the farm with a lively step and great endurance. For the production of animal food they are not to be surpa.s.sed, and in conjunction with the Highland Scot of similar pretension, they are the first to receive the attention of the London West-end butcher. In the show-yard, again, the form of the Devon and its rich quality of flesh serve as the leading guide to all decisions. He has a prominent eye, with a placid face, small nose and elegantly turned horns, which have an upward tendency (and cast outward at the end) as if to put the last finish upon his symmetrical form and carriage. These animals are beautifully covered with silken coats of a medium red color. The shoulder points, sides, and foreflanks are well covered with rich meat, which, when blended with their peculiar property of producing meat of first-rate quality along their tops, makes them what they are--'models of perfection.' Of course, we here speak of the best-bred animals. Some object to the North Devon, and cla.s.s him as a small animal, with the remark, 'He is too small for the grazier.' In saying this it should ever be remembered that the Devon has its particular mission to perform, viz., that of converting the produce of cold and hilly pastures into meat, which could not be done to advantage by large-framed animals, however good their parentage."

The Devons have been less extensively, and more recently, introduced than the Short-horn, but the experience of those who have fairly tried them fully sustains the opinions given above, and they promise to become a favorite and prevailing breed. The usual objection made to them by those who have been accustomed to consider improvement in cattle to be necessarily connected with enlargement of size, is, that they are too small. But their size instead of being a valid objection, is believed to be a recommendation, the Devons being as large as the fertility of New England soils generally are _capable of feeding fully and profitably_.

Their qualities as working oxen are unrivalled, no other breed so uniformly furnishing such active, docile, strong and hardy workers as the Devons, and their uniformity is such as to render it very easy to match them. Without possessing so early maturity as the Short-horns, they fatten readily and easily at from four to six years old, and from their compact build and well balanced proportions usually weigh more than one accustomed to common cattle would antic.i.p.ate.

The Devons are not generally deep milkers but the milk is richer than that of most other breeds, and some families, where proper care and attention have been given to this quality in breeding, yield largely.

It is, however, as a breed for general use, combining beef, labor and milk, in fair proportion, that the Devons will generally give best satisfaction, as they are hardy enough to suit the climate, and cheaply furnish efficient labor and valuable meat.

Farmers, whose ideas upon stock have been formed wholly from their experience with Short-horns and their grades, have often been surprised at witnessing the facility with which Devons sustain themselves upon scanty pasturage, and not a few when first critically examining well bred specimens, sympathize with the feeling which prompted the remark made to the reporter of the great English Exhibition at Chester, after examining with him fine specimens of the Devons--"I am delighted; I find we Short-horn men have yet much to learn of the true formation of animals; their beautiful contour and extreme quality of flesh surprise me."

The HEREFORDS are an ancient and well established breed, and are probably ent.i.tled to be called a race. Little is known with certainty of their origin beyond the fact that for many generations they can be traced as the peculiar breed of the county whence they derive their name. Youatt says that "Mr. Culley, although an excellent judge of cattle, formed a very erroneous opinion of the Herefords when he p.r.o.nounced them to be nothing but a mixture of the Welsh with a b.a.s.t.a.r.d race of Long Horns. They are evidently an aboriginal breed, and descended from the same stock as the Devon. If it were not for the white face and somewhat larger head and thicker neck it would not at all times be easy to distinguish between a heavy Devon and a light Hereford."

Mr. Gisborne says "The Hereford brings good evidence that he is the British representative of a widely diffused and ancient race. The most uniform drove of oxen which we ever saw, consisted of five hundred from the Ukraine. They had white faces, upward horns and tawny bodies.

Placed in Hereford, Leicester or Northampton markets, they would have puzzled the graziers as to the land of their nativity; but no one would have hesitated to p.r.o.nounce that they were rough Herefords."

Mr. Rowlandson, in his prize report on the farming of Herefordshire, says "The Herefords, or as they have sometimes been termed, the middle horned cattle have ever been esteemed a most valuable breed, and when housed from the inclemency of the weather, probably put on more meat and fat in proportion to the food consumed, than any other variety.

They are not so hardy as the North Devon cattle, to which they bear a general resemblance; they however are larger than the Devons, especially the males. On the other hand, the Herefords are larger boned, to compensate for which defect, may be cast in the opposite scale the fact that the flesh of the Hereford ox surpa.s.ses all other breeds for that beautiful marbled appearance caused by the intermixture of fat and lean which is so much prized by the epicure.

The Hereford is usually deeper in the chine, and the shoulders are larger and coa.r.s.er than the Devon. They are worse milkers than the Devon, or than, perhaps, any other breed, for the Hereford grazier has neglected the female and paid the whole of his attention to the male."

It is said that formerly they were of a brown or reddish brown color, and some had grey or mottled faces. Mr. P. Tully states that the white face originated accidentally on a farm belonging to one of his ancestors. "That about the middle of the last century the cow-man came to the house announcing as a remarkable fact that the favorite cow had produced a white faced bull calf. This had never been known to have occurred before, and, as a curiosity it was agreed that the animal should be kept and reared as a future sire. Such, in a few words, is the origin of a fact that has since prevailed through the country, for the progeny of this very bull became celebrated for white faces." Of late years there has been much uniformity of color; the face, throat, the under portion of the body, the inside and lower part of the leg's and the tip of the tail being white, and the other parts of the body a rich deep red.

Compared with the Short-horn the Hereford is nearly as large, of rather less early maturity, but a better animal for grazing, and hardier. The compet.i.tion between these breeds in England is very close and warm, and taking many facts together it would seem probable that the Hereford is in some instances rather more profitable, and the Short-horn generally more fashionable. Challenges have been repeatedly offered by Hereford men to Shorthorn men to feed an equal number of each in order to test their respective merits, and have usually been declined, perhaps because if the decision was against them, the loss might be serious, and if they won, the gain would be little or nothing, the Short-horns being more popular already and commanding higher prices.

As working oxen the Herefords are preferable to the Short-horns, being more hardy and active. Some complaint is made of their being "breachy." Their large frames demand food, and if enough be furnished they are content, but if not, they have intelligence and activity enough to help themselves if food be within reach. Their chief merit is as large oxen, for heavy labor, and for beef. Some grade cows from good milking dams give a fair quant.i.ty of milk, and what they give is always rich, but wherever they have been introduced, milking qualities generally deteriorate very much.

The AYRSHIRES are a breed especially valuable for dairy purposes.

Regarding its origin, Mr. Aiton who felt much interest in the subject, and whose opportunities for knowing the facts were second to those of no other, writing about forty years since, says, "The dairy breed of cows in the county of Ayr now so much and so deservedly esteemed, is not, in their present form, an ancient or indigenous race, but a breed formed during the memory of living individuals and which have been gradually improving for more than fifty years past, till now they are brought to a degree of perfection that has never been surpa.s.sed as dairy stock in any part of Britain, or probably in the world. They have increased to double their former size, and they yield about four and some of them five times as much milk as formerly. By greater attention to breeding and feeding, they have been changed from an ill-shaped, puny, mongrel race of cattle to a fixed and specific breed of excellent color and quality. So gradually and imperceptibly were improvements in the breed and condition of the cattle introduced, that although I lived in Ayrshire from 1760 to 1785, and have traversed it every year since, I have difficulty in stating from my own observation or what I have learned from others, either the precise period when improvement began, or the exact means by which a change so important was wrought." He then relates several instances in which between 1760 and 1770 some larger cows were brought in of the English or Dutch breeds, and of their effect he says, "I am disposed to believe that although they rendered the red color with white patches fashionable in Ayr, they could not have had much effect in changing the breed into their present highly improved condition," and thinks it mainly due to careful selections and better treatment.

Mr. Aiton says "the chief qualities of a dairy cow are that she gives a copious draught of milk, that she fattens readily and turns out well in the shambles. In all these respects combined the Ayrshire breed excels all others in Scotland, and is probably superior to any in Britain. They certainly yield more milk than any other breed in Europe. No other breed fatten faster, and none cut up better in the shambles, and the fat is as well mixed with the lean flesh, or marbled, as the butchers say, as any other. They always turn out better than the most skillful grazier or butcher who are strangers to the breed could expect on handling them. They are tame, quiet, and feed at ease without roaming, breaking over fences, or goring each other. They are very hardy and active, and are not injured but rather improved by lying out all night during summer and autumn."

Since Mr. Aiton wrote, even greater care and attention has been paid to this breed than before, and it is now well ent.i.tled to rank as the first dairy breed in the world, quant.i.ty and quality of yield and the amount of food required being all considered. Compared with the Jersey, its only rival as a dairy breed, the milk of the Ayrshire is much more abundant, and richer in caseine, but not so rich in oily matter, although better in this respect than the average of cows.

Experience of their qualities in this country shows that if they do not here fully sustain their reputation in Scotland, they come near to it, as near as the difference in our drier climate allows, giving more good milk upon a given amount of food than any other. Upon ordinarily fertile pastures they yield largely and prove very hardy and docile.

The oxen too are good workers, fatten well, and yield juicy, fine flavored meat.

The JERSEY race, formerly known as the Aldernay, is almost exclusively employed for dairy purposes, and may not be expected to give satisfaction for other uses. Their milk is richer than that of any other cows, and the b.u.t.ter made from it possesses a superior flavor and a deep rich color, and consequently commands an extraordinary price in all markets where good b.u.t.ter is appreciated.

The Jersey cattle are of Norman origin, and until within about twenty or thirty years were far more uninviting in appearance than now, great improvement having been effected in their symmetry and general appearance by means of careful selections in breeding, and this without loss of milking properties. The cows are generally very docile and gentle, but the males when past two or three years of age often become vicious and unmanageable. It is said that the cows fatten readily when dry, and make good beef.

There is no branch of cattle husbandry which promises better returns than the breeding and rearing of milch cows. Here and there are to be found some good enough. In the vicinity of large towns and cities are many which having been culled from many miles around, on account of dairy properties, are considerably above the average, but taking the cows of the country together they do not compare favorably with the oxen. Farmers generally take more pride in their oxen, and strive to have as good or better than any of their neighbors, while if a cow will give milk enough to rear a large steer calf and a little besides, it is often deemed satisfactory.

SHEEP.--The sheep first introduced into this country were of English origin, and generally not very dissimilar to the ancient unimproved Down sheep. Probably some were these--as many of the first cattle were the Devons of that day. More than fifty years since the Merinos were introduced and extensively bred. At various periods other choice breeds have been introduced. The number kept has fluctuated very much, depending mainly on the market value of wool. When it was high many kept sheep, and when it fell the flocks were neglected.

The true mission of the sheep in fulfilling the threefold purpose of furnishing _food, and raiment, and the means of fertilization_, seems not yet to be generally apprehended. One of the most serious defects in the husbandry of New England at the present time, is the prevalent neglect of sheep. Ten times the present number might be easily fed, and they would give in meat, wool and progeny, more direct profit than any other domestic animal, and at the same time the food they consume would do more towards fertilizing the farms than an equal amount consumed by any other animal.

It is notorious that our pastures have seriously deteriorated in fertility and become overrun with worthless weeds and bushes to the exclusion of nutritious gra.s.ses. Sheep husbandry has declined. If these two facts as uniformly stand to each other in the relation of cause and effect, as they certainly do in many instances, the remedy is suggested at once--replace the animal with "golden feet." After devoting the best land to cultivation and the poorest to wood, we have thousands upon thousands of acres evidently intended by the Creator for sheep walks, because better adapted for this purpose than for any other. An indication of Providence so unmistakable as this should not be unheeded.

The MERINOS are perhaps the most ancient race of sheep extant. They originated in Spain, and were for ages bred there alone. In 1765 they were introduced into Saxony, where they were bred with care and with special reference to increasing the fineness of the wool, little regard being paid to other considerations. They were also taken to France and to Silesia, and from all these sources importations have been made into the United States. The Spanish Merino has proved the most successful, and by skill and care in breeding has been greatly improved, insomuch that intelligent judges are of opinion that some of the Vermont flocks are superior to the best in Europe, both in form, hardiness, quant.i.ty of fleece and staple. They are too well known to require a detailed description here. Suffice it to say that they are below rather than above medium size, possessing a good const.i.tution, and are thrifty, and cheaply kept. Their chief merit is as fine wooled sheep, and as such they excel all others. As mutton sheep they are const.i.tutionally and anatomically deficient, being of late maturity and great longevity, (a recommendation as fine wooled sheep,) having too flat sides, too narrow chests, too little meat in the best parts, and too great a percentage of offal when slaughtered. Their mutton, however, is of fair quality when mature and well fatted. As nurses they are inferior to many other breeds. Many careful, extensive and protracted attempts have been made to produce a breed combining the fleece of the Merino with the carca.s.s of the Leicester or other long wooled sheep. They have all signally failed. The forms, characteristics and qualities of breeds so unlike seem to be incompatible with one another. A cross of the Merino buck and Leicester ewe gives progeny which is of more rapid growth than the Merino alone, and is hardier than the Leicester. It is a good cross for the butchers' use, but not to be perpetuated. Improvement in the Merino should be sought by skillful selection and pairing the parents in view of their relative fitness to one another.

The LEICESTER, or more properly the New Leicester, is the breed which Bakewell established, and is repeatedly referred to in the preceding pages. It has quite superseded the old breed of this name. His aim was to produce sheep which would give the greatest amount of meat in the shortest time on a given amount of food, and for early maturity and disposition to fatten, it still ranks among the highest. The objections to the breed for New England are, that they are not hardy enough for the climate, and require richer pastures and more abundant food than most farmers can supply. Its chief value in such locations is for crossing upon ordinary sheep for lambs and mutton.

The COTSWOLDS derive their name from a low range of hills in Gloucestershire. These have long been noted for the numbers and excellence of the sheep there maintained, and are so called from Cote, a sheepfold, and Would, a naked hill. An old writer says:--"In these woulds they feed in great numbers flocks of sheep, long necked and square of bulk and bone, by reason (as is commonly thought) of the weally and hilly situation of their pastures, whose wool, being most fine and soft, is held in pa.s.sing great account amongst all nations."

Since his time, however, great changes have pa.s.sed both upon the sheep and the district they inhabit. The improved Cotswolds are among the largest British breeds, long wooled, prolific, good nurses, and of early maturity. More robust, and less liable to disease than the Leicesters, of fine symmetry and carrying great weight and light offal, they are among the most popular of large mutton sheep.

The SOUTH DOWN is an ancient British breed, taking its name from a chalky range of hills in Suss.e.x and other counties in England about sixty miles in length, known as the South Downs, by the side of which is a tract of land of ordinary fertility and well calculated for sheep walks, and on which probably more than a million of this breed of sheep are pastured. The flock tended by the "Shepherd of Salisbury Plain," of whose earnest piety and simple faith Hannah More has told us in her widely circulated tract, were South Downs. Formerly these sheep possessed few of the attractions they now present. About the year 1782 Mr. John Ellman of Glynde turned his attention to their improvement. Unlike his cotemporary Bakewell, he did not attempt to make a new breed by crossing, but by attention to the principles of breeding, by skillful selections for coupling and continued perseverance for fifty years, he obtained what he sought--health, soundness of const.i.tution, symmetry of form, early maturity, and facility of fattening, and thus brought his flock to a high state of perfection. Before he began we are told that the South Downs were of "small size and ill shape, long and thin in the neck, high on the shoulders, low behind, high on the loins, down on the rumps, the tail set on very low, sharp on the back, the ribs flat," &c., &c., and were not mature enough to fatten until three years old or past. Of his flock in 1794, Arthur Young[25] says: "Mr. Ellman's flock of sheep, I must observe in this place, is unquestionably the first in the country; there is nothing that can be compared with it; the wool is the finest and the carca.s.s the best proportioned; although I saw several n.o.ble flocks afterwards which I examined with a great degree of attention; some few had very fine wool, which might be equal to his, but then the carca.s.s was ill-shaped, and many had a good carca.s.s with coa.r.s.e wool; but this incomparable farmer had eminently united both these circ.u.mstances in his flock at Glynde. I affirm this with the greater degree of certainty, since the eye of prejudice has been at work in this country to disparage and call in question the quality of his flock, merely because he has raised the merit of it by unremitted attention above the rest of the neighboring farmers, and it now stands unrivalled." This, it will be noticed, was only twelve years after he began his improvements. To Mr. Ellman's credit be it said that he exhibited none of the selfishness which characterized Mr.

Bakewell's career, but was always ready to impart information to those desirous to learn, and labored zealously to encourage general improvement. That he was pecuniarily successful is evident from the continued rise in the price of his sheep. The Duke of Richmond, Mr.

Jonas Webb, Mr. Grantham, and other cotemporaries and successors of Mr. Ellman have carried successfully forward the work so well begun by him. The Improved South Downs now rank first among British breeds in hardiness, const.i.tution, early maturity, symmetry, and quality of mutton and of wool combined. The meat usually brings one to two cents per pound more than that of most other breeds in Smithfield market. It is of fine flavor, juicy, and well marbled. The South Downs are of medium size, (although Mr. Webb has in some cases attained a live weight in breeding rams of 250 pounds, and a dressed weight of 200 pounds in fattened wethers,) hardy, prolific, and easily kept, succeeding on short pastures, although they pay well for liberal feeding.

The OXFORD DOWNS may be named as an instance of successful cross-breeding. They originated in a cross between the Improved Cotswolds and the Hampshire Downs.[26] Having been perpetuated now for more than twenty years, they possess so good a degree of uniformity as to be ent.i.tled to the designation of a distinct breed, and have lately been formally recognized as such in England. They were first introduced into Ma.s.sachusetts by R.S. Fay, Esq., of Lynn, and into Maine by Mr. Sears, both in 1854. They were first bred with a view to unite increased size with the superiority of flesh and patience of short keep which characterize the Downs. It is understood that they inherit from the Cotswold a carca.s.s exceeding in weight that of the Downs from a fifth to a quarter; a fleece somewhat coa.r.s.er but heavier than that of the Downs by one-third to one-half; and from the latter they inherit rotundity of form and fullness of muscle in the more valuable parts, together with the brown face and leg.

In reply to a note of inquiry addressed to Mr. Fay, he says: "I selected the Oxford Downs with some hesitation as between them and the Shropshire Downs, after a careful examination of all the various breeds of sheep in England. My attention was called to them by observing that they took, (1854,) without any distinct name, all the prizes as mutton sheep at Birmingham and elsewhere, where they were admitted to compete. They were only known under the name of half or cross bred sheep, with name of the breeder. Mr. Rives of Virginia and myself went into Oxfordshire to look at them, and so little were they known as a cla.s.s, that Philip Pusey, Esq., President of the Royal Agricultural Society, knew nothing about them, although one of his largest tenants, Mr. Druce, had long bred them. It is only within two years that they were formally recognized at a meeting, I believe, of the Smithfield club, and they then received the name which I gave them years ago, of Oxford Downs. By this name they are now known in England. I can only add that an experience of six years confirms all that is claimed for them. Fifty-two ewes produced seventy-three healthy lambs from February 13th to March 15th, this year. The same ewes sheared an average of more than seven pounds to the fleece, unwashed wool, which sold for 34 cents per pound. A good ram should weigh as a shearling from 180 to 250 pounds; a good ewe from 125 to 160 pounds. They fatten rapidly, and thrive on rough pasture. My flock, now the older and poorer ones have been disposed of, will average, I have no doubt, eight pounds of wool to the fleece. The mutton is exceedingly fine and can be turned into cash in 18 months from birth."

The kind of sheep most desirable, on the whole, in any given case, depends chiefly on the surface, character and fertility of the farm and its location. At too great a distance from a good meat market to allow of a profitable sale of the carca.s.s, the Spanish Merino is doubtless to be preferred, but if nearer, the English breeds will pay better. Mutton can be grown cheaper than any other meat. It is daily becoming better appreciated, and strange as it may seem, good mutton brings a higher price in our best markets than the same quality does in England. Its subst.i.tution in a large measure for pork would contribute materially to the health of the community.

Winter fattening of sheep may often be made very profitable and deserves greater attention, especially where manure is an object--(and where is it not?) In England it is considered good policy to fatten sheep if the increase of weight will pay for the oil cake or grain consumed; the manure being deemed a fair equivalent for the other food, that is, as much straw and turnips as they will eat. Lean sheep there usually command as high a price per pound in the fall as fatted ones in the spring, while here the latter usually bear a much higher price, which gives the feeder a great advantage. The difference may be best ill.u.s.trated by a simple calculation. Suppose a wether of a good mutton breed weighing 80 pounds in the fall to cost 6 cents per pound ($4.80) and to require 20 pounds of hay per week, or its equivalent in other food, and to gain a pound and a half each week, the gain in weight in four months would be about 25 pounds, which at 6 cents per pound would be $1.50 or less than $10 per ton for the hay consumed; but if the same sheep could be bought in fall for 3 cents per pound and sold in spring for 6 cents, the gain would amount to $3.90 or upwards of $20 per ton for the hay--the manure being the same in either case.

For fattening it is well to purchase animals as large and thrifty and in as good condition as can be done at fair prices; and to feed liberally so as to secure the most rapid increase which can be had without waste of food.

The fattening of sheep by the aid of oil cake or grain purchased for the purpose, may often be made a cheaper and altogether preferable mode of obtaining manure than by the purchase of artificial fertilizers, as guano, superphosphate of lime, &c. It is practiced extensively and advantageously abroad and deserves at least a fair trial here.

HORSES.--It does not seem necessary in this connection to give descriptions of the various breeds of horses, as comparatively few of our animals can fairly be said to be of any pure or distinct varieties. Names are common enough, but the great majority of the horses among us are so mixed in their descent from the breeds which have been introduced at various times from abroad, as to be almost as near of kin to one as to another. Success in breeding will depend far more upon attention to selection in regard to structure and endowments than to names. Although it may be somewhat beyond the scope of an attempt to treat merely of the principles of breeding to offer remarks regarding its practice, a few brief hints may be pardoned; and first, let far more care be taken in respect of breeding mares. Let none be bred from which are too old, or of feeble const.i.tution, or the subjects of hereditary disease. No greater mistake can be made than to suppose that a mare fit for nothing else, is worthy to be bred from.

If fit for this, she is good for much else--gentle, courageous, of good action, durable and good looking; outward form is perhaps of less importance than in the male, but serious defect in this greatly lessens her value. She should be _roomy_, that is the pelvis should be such that she can well develop and easily carry and deliver the foal.

Youatt says, "it may, perhaps, be justly affirmed that there is more difficulty in selecting a good mare to breed from, than a good horse, because she should possess somewhat opposite qualities. Her carca.s.s should be long to give room for the growth of the foetus, yet with this there should be compactness of form and shortness[27] of leg."

The next point is the selection of a stallion. It is easy enough to say that he should be compactly built, "having as much goodness and strength as possible condensed in a little s.p.a.ce," and rather smaller relatively than the mare, that he should be of approved descent and possess the forms, properties and characteristics which are desired to be perpetuated. It is not very difficult to specify with tolerable accuracy what forms are best adapted for certain purposes, as an oblique shoulder, and depth, rather than width, of chest are indispensable for trotting; that in a draft horse this obliquity of shoulder is not wanted, one more upright being preferable, and so forth; but after all, a main point to secure success is _relative adaptation of the parents to each other_, and here written directions are necessarily insufficient and cannot supply the place of skill and judgment to be obtained only by careful study and practical experience; nor is it always easy, even if fully aware of the necessary requirements, to find them in the best combination in the horses nearest at hand. A stallion may be all which can be desired for one dam and yet be very unsuitable for another. In this aspect we can perceive how valuable results may accrue from such establishments as now exist in various sections of the country, where not a single stallion only is kept, but many, and where no pains nor expense are spared to secure the presence of superior specimens of the most approved breeds, and choice strains of blood in various combinations; so that the necessary requirements in a sire are no sooner fairly apprehended than they are fully met. On this point therefore, my suggestion is, that this relative adaptation of the parents to one another be made the subject of patient and careful study; and a word of caution is offered lest in the decisions made, too great importance be attached to speed alone. That speed is an element of value is not doubted, nor do I intimate that he who breeds horses to sell, may not aim to adapt his wares to his market as much as the man who breeds neat cattle and sheep, or the man who manufactures furniture to sell.