Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1875-08-04

to contend with.
When the brcoderhas got his good feeders,
possessing the requisite quietness (and size)
that comes from abundant feeding for gen
erations, his next step is, by selection and
crossing, to breed out, as far as possible, the
Improbable meat points, and to breed in the
profitable ones that is, 10 reduce bone and
oiral, and to increase the growth Of those
parts Of the carcass that yield the greatest
amount Of muscle aud fat, and the least
amount Of tendinous and iihrous tissue. The
greatest skill in thi. art IS shown by him
who can accomplish it to the fullest cXtcnt,
without impairing The vital and procreaiive
powers--in plain terms, without weakening
the constitution of the race
But there is one thing to be noticed here
that while, by selecting such a race as the /
original Teeswater CATTLE size and the /
butchers points may be easily produced 10y |
selection aud crossing, so rs to give the |
largest cuts of the most desirabl, meat |
the best quality Of meet is not SO easily OBJ |
tanned The meat Of the Highland or
mountain cattle of Scotland, a small, active F.
aud by no means well-shaped race, brings
much higher price in the English markets
than the best Shorthoru beef. There is
waterness, and want Of flavor about the
latter which is insepaable from the meat
grown from very abundant and succulmt
feed. 1t has been attempted in vain TO
unite these opposites 10y crossing the Short |
horn with the Highland races. But this
rash ignoringo Of the incompatible pcculiari-
ties induced 10y special feeding, a different
topography and a peculiar climate, dis
cussed by us in recent article, drawn out,
like this, by Mr. IIubbard's criticism) re-
suited in iniuring the form without improy
ing the beef Of the Shorthom; and to-day
the "smutty-nose brought in by this cross
is a disqualiiyiug mark upon amy Shonhorn,
wherever it is seen.
Everything else but the highest quality
may be had in the shorthorn or other races,
like the Hereford and Dutch, developed un-
der similar conditions. Having got the
quietness, large size and perfect form, these
races must be preserved by keeping up hcr
constitutions. This is not perfectly easy TO
do; indeed, it is the one great aud difficult
problem, the danger that threatens the per-
pctuity Of these great beef breeds. In
breeding for size and desirable beef points,
meither Of them favorable, if not directly
unfayorable, to vigorous vitality0 constitu-
ton is unavoidably more or less overlooked
and the risk continually grows that just as
the edifce seems to have been completed, it
should be toppled down in ruins by the fail
ure Of the very quality Of being good feed
ers, upon which this great achievement in
breeding was primarily based and by the
failure, also, Of the ability 10 breed at all,
without which, as matter OF course, any
race, no matter what its other good qualities
may be- must come to an end.
These are not ideal dangers, as Mr.. Hub
bard is well aware Bnt now to come back
and show, briefly, the application Of these fun
damental facts to the case in point, the item
about the Gilmanton cattle, and the "agri-
cultural impossibillity, in connection where
with Mr.. Hubbard araigns Mr.. Cheever aud
oursef. We recognize, with every intelligent
man who has studied the subject, that forage
fed to scrub cattle will not return the profit
in beef to the feeder that it would ii fed to
well-bred stock of the beef breeds, or their
grades-not because the scrub cattle may
not be " good feeders" but because they are
not constitutionaly and hereditarily quiet,
and consequently are not rapid growers.
The feed is used up, to a great extent, in
sustaining muscular activity or restless
movement; and it is also wasted in making
ofTal and bone, instead Of the fine beef Of the
5 thoroughbred. All these points taken 10y
Mr.. Hubbard are well taken; but, after all
Q he has overlooked the point that these Gil
manton cattle did not strictly belong to a
beef breed, but were grades Of the small and
active Devon race. lie admits the probable
exaggeraton OF the statement that pair OF
ordinary native cattle would have cost Il,
much to raise, and would have sold for only
( about half as much. To our mind, though
: there is vast difference in the so-callet
"native cattle" this statement could hay,
4 been true only by comparing the scrubbics
o of the scrub, such rs no intelligent farmer
$ would put up to fat, with rery good DcvoI
II grades. The idea that Mr.. Choaver was ai
e ter-that you cannot get something from
= nothing-is all right, and equally right is Mr.
a Iiubbard's idea-that there Is much NOR
IF profit in fattening stock that has been bre'
le for fattening, than in trying to put meat OF
n to racing stock.
10