Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1879-01-09

tendency to degenerate will be developed,
and in a few generations, scarcely q trace
Of the improved stock can be seen. Fail
ing to recognize this law Of varieties, much
dissatisfaction has been expressed by many
who have invested in improved stock and
high prices and neglected to give the ami
mails the care which their grade demanded,
and thus suffered the improved properties
to disappear in their near posterity. These
men, very naturally, conclude that improv-
ed stock is a humbug. The tendency to de-
generate with neglect is more manifest in
hogs than in other domestic animals. Cattle
hold the characteristics of their breed we'll,
and will exhibit the peculiar points Of the
variety to which they belong even after the
neglect of several generations. Horses, of
all our domestic animals, retain longest
both the figure and disposition of the strain
to which they belong. But even horses, If
neglected, will be reduced to a uniformity
of color and size, as well as general shape.
The Castilian horses which the Spanish
brought to this continent at the time of the
conquest of Mexico and Peru, were of the
Andalusian breed, which was a cross of the
heavy European draft horse with Arabian
courser. These afterwards became wild OH
the plains of Mexico and Pampas of South
America. The Mexican mustang repre-
sents that degenerate race and is probably
a fair example of the primitive horse before
domestication changed his type. The pro-
duction of different varieties in our domes-
tic animals gives the stock farmer a choice
as to the special purpose or use for which
he raises stock. Horses for draft. for farm
work, for the carriage, or tor the saddle,
will require severally, special properties and
qualities, and if the animals are raised for
the market, the present price and probable
demanding future should be consulted be-
fore selecting the grade we will raise. So,
also, with cattle. If the purpose is to sup
ply the beef market, a different selection
should be made, than that which we would
make if the stock is to be used for dairy
purposes.
Sheep are raised both for mutton and
for wool, and both these objects are Usually
combined, though one is generally made
primary and the other incidental. Ii fine,
high-priced wool is the chief object, the
small Spanish or Saxon varieties will be Sc
lected, but the flesh will be of little value.
If mutton is the chief object, with a good
yield of medium-priced wool, then the
Southdown, Cotswold or Leicester breeds
will be raised.
In none of our domestic animals has cul-
tivatton made SO great a change as in the
hog. This relates not only to the general
shape and proportions of the animal, but as
well, to the time necessary to bring it into
market. Forty years ago we did well if we
brought a hog up to the weight of $50
pounds in 81 or 30 months, now the same
weight is reached in 10 or IL months. But
this question OF improved stock has another
side that must not be concealed. AS we
depart from the normal type of the species.
in any animal, we reduce the vital force of
that animal. That is. it becomes less hardy,
and the vlcissitudes of season, and more
subject to diseases. Hog cholera is not the
disease OF the 'woods hog of sc years ago,
nor do the semi-wild cattle OF Texas suffer
from "Texas cattle fever" though they
communicate it to our imgroved stock. am
aware that this principle has been called in
question, but it rests OH a physiological law
and every days observation Of facts sus-
tains it.
The Emerald Isle. with an area no larger
than the state of Maine, is an immense pro-
ducer of live stock, the bulk of which finds
its way to England. Last year the ship
mentS of live stock to Enrlaud amnnntal To