The Express.
London, England, 1851-10-04 00:00:00

BRITISH HUSBANDRY.

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF BREEDING.
(Concladed from the Express of Oct. 1.)
Mr. Dickson, in his work on breeding, traces the
natural progress of the art of breeding, and points ,
out the errors to be avoided at the various stages of
that progress. Rut no one need now go through
any of these stages, fur the modern breeder at once
avails himself of the experience and the errors of his
predecessors, by purchasing at once good stock of
the sort he intends to breed. And with a
man who intends to make breeding his
first object, this is the best plan; he should
buy both males and females of the purest blood,
and the best forms his judgment and his means
enable him to obtain. But, with the general body of
farmers, breeding is only a part, and usually a
secondary part, of their business; and they cannot,
consistently with the general management of their
farms, devote either the money or attention neces-
sary to become professional breeders. With them
the question is how their actual stock can be most
improved, and at the most reasonable cost. We
answer, by the steady use of pod and pure bred
males. Still he must take care that the male be not
only of pure blood, but that it is fully equal in its
points to the actual stock. Thus Youatt says, " Let
it be supposed that the cattle of a certain farmer
have some excellent saahties about them, but there
is a defect which considerably deteriorates theirvalue,
and which he is anxious to remove. He remembers
that 'like produces like,' and he looks about for a
bull that possesses the excellence which he wishes
to engraft on his own breed. lie tries the experi-
ment, and, to his astonishment, it is a perfect failure.
Ilis stock, so far from improving, have deteriorated.
The cause of this every day occurrence was, that
ho did not fairly estimate the extent of
the principle from which he expected so much. The
new bull had the good point that was wanting in
his old stock; but he too was deficient somewhere,
also; and therefore, although his cattle had been in
some degree improved by him in one way, that was
more than counterbalanced by the inheritance of his
defects. Here is the secret of every failure—the
grand principle of breeding. The new comer, while
he possesses that which was a desideratum in the
old stock, should likewise possess every good quality
that they had previously exhibited—then, and then
alone, will there be improvement without alloy."
One very important question in breeding and one
about which much discussion has taken place, is,
whether the male or female parent exercises most
influence on the offspring—whether improvement be
greatest from the ivale or female side.
The Arabs, so celebrated for the scrupulous
care with which they watch over the punty of
blood in their horses, who trace their pedi;Frees
through a hundred generations, arc comparatively
indifferent as to the male; but prize their
mares as transmitting to their offspring their
chief excellencies. They readily sell the horses,
but no price will tempt them to part with their mares
of the purest breed. Facts, and the conjoint opi-
nions of scientific observers and practical breeders,
alike support an opposite doctrine. Of course this
assumes that both parents are in somewhat equal
circumstances, for if the female be constantly and
carefully maintained in a condition of eminent excel-
lence, the male being comparatively neglected, she
may often transmit her own peculiar properties in
defiance of the antagonist ones of her mate. In
ordinary cases, however, the influence of the male
predominates. The offspring of the male ass and the
female horse resembles the former more than the
latter. The long ear, spare muscular development,
narrow feet, and sluggish action, are almost equal
peculiarities of the mule and the ass. The size, too,
approximates to that of the ass; for the large Spanish
mules are the offspring of asses of great size. Small
mares, too, will bring colts of large size when put to
lGtilhorses. Pony mares will thus breed stout
Soways, and well bred mares about fifteen hands
high, will produce full-size carriage horses by a
powerful stallion.
So the improvement effected by means of a good
short-horn or Hereford bull in a herd of ordinary
cows is very striking. In sheep the male's influence
is still stronger. The cross Iseween the South
• Down ewe and the improved Cotswold ram produces
a large, long-woolled sheep, closely resembling the
sire; and the produce of the Leicester ram and
Cheviot ewe has a close resemblance to the male in
size, appearance, and fattening qualities. As re-
size, general appearance, form, and muscular
development. therefore, the iufluence of the male is
1 superior to that of the female ; but it must by no means
be supposed that these points in the female are
matters of indifference; and above all the mother
should be free from hereditary disease and possess a
• good constitution ; defects from such causes are found
. to be more likely to be transmitted through the dam
than the sire. The temper, disposition, and nervous
1 development are said more frequently to follow the
female than the male. 'fhe influence of the female
also Nerves to soften down and modify the form of
• the male ;as a large coarse horse is put to a hand-
' some well-bred mare, the offspring, though larger
• than the dam, is usually handsomer than the sire.
Mr..l. Walker, in a recent scientific work, con-
tends " that organisation is propagated in halves ;
that the voluntary and locomotive systems are pro-
duced by one parent, and the vital and sensitive sys-
tems by the other." The former by the male, the
latter by the female, though occasionally an opposite
result is observed from the female being the more
vigorous of the two. Mr. Walker condemns attempts
to enlarge any breed of animals by menus of a larger
sire, as calculated to produce a coarse and ungainly
progeny. Experience, however, is against that
view. The small sheep of Orkney, Wales, and Ire-
land, and the black-faced sheep of the Scotch High-
lands, have all been enlarged and improved by means
of the Cheviot, the Southdown or the Leicester rain •,
while the Cheviot sheep has been equally improved
; by the Leicester rain. The writer, in f. Morton's
eyeloixedia," referring to Mr. Walker's theory of
propagation by halves, save, "So far as our
own observations go, the locomotive system and
the disposition to form fat and flesh go to-'
'ether, and these are generally propagated by the
male parent ; as for instance, when a Short-horn or
Hereford bull is used with an ordinary herd of
cows, or a Leicester ram with an inferior breed of
sheep, the almost invariable effect of this latter
cross is to produce an animal whose feeding and
fatting qualities very closely approximate to those
of the sire, and are beyond all comparison superior
to the dam."

Some physiologists and naturalists have attempted
to determine the influence of either parent in re-
spect of the sex of the offspring, but the only
conclusion to be drawn from their opinions and
statements, which are contradictory, rather goes to
confirm the common notion among breeders that
when the male is older than the female, the majo-
rity of the offspring are likely to be males. We
believe that this is not much to be depended upon,
for we have known instances of cows breeding all
their calves of one sex by different bulls, to the great
vexation of the owner. In one instance a gentle-
man desirous of establishing a herd of Shorthorns in
a remote district purchased two cows at high prices;
they bred nine calves, by different bulls, and there
was only one female calf out of the nine.
Another question in connexion with breeding,
which has excited some difference of opinion, is the I
breeding in-and-in. That it preserves the perfections
of an improved breed, if not too long persisted in,
and the animals are not too closely allied, is certain;
but it generally ends in producing a weakly progeny,
and particularly deficient in the reproductive facul-
ties. Though breeders may occasionallznntreyrs.it,
the system should be carefully avoided by
On the subject of crossing, the writer on breeding
we have before referred to confirms the views wo
have expressed, saying, " The first cross is generally
successful ; a tolerable degree of uniformity is pro-
duced, resembling in external conformation the sire,
which is usually of a superior breed ; and thus the
offspring are superior to the dams. These erosa-bred