Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1883-11-03
IMPROVEMENT OF STOCK.
Col. P. T. Glass Address to the Farm
ers' Association Of Lauderdale
County.
Spirit Of The Farm.

rictltural ASSOCIATION: In the discharge
of the duty assigned me by your body,
to address you on the subject Of the
Improvement Of Stock, | will confne
my remarks to that of cattle and sheep,
especially, as the entire subject would
be too extended for the discourse. In or.
der to know when and how to begin
the improvement, it would be well to
understand the terms used to designate
the breeds and grades of cattle and
sheep. ''''J p
Our common cattle known as
scrubs" were brought here by our an.
cestors when they immigrated to this
country. AT that time considerable
progress had been made in the develop.
Nment and improvement of breeds, and
each nationality brought with them the
breeds peculiar to their own country.
But having no herd books, all these
y races commingled until they lost their
characteristics, and became merged
into the mongrel race called Scrubs
The bovine race was not indigenous
to this continent, none being found
here when the country was discovered
by Columbus. The Spaniards first in
troduced cattle into Mexico in 1925,
and stocked Mexico and Texas. 1t is
said by travellers in Spain, that the pa.
ternity of the coarse, long horned cat
tie of Texas can still be distinctly rec,
ognized in the cattle on the plains Of
Andalusia, and other parts Of Spain.
In 1910 cattle were brought by our
English ancestors into Virginia the
Dutch imported them into New York
in 1914, and the Plymouth colonists
into Massachusetts; in 1927 the Sweeds
carried their cattle with them to Della
ware. The English, also, imported
cattle into the Carolinas, Maryland and
Pennsylvania about 1860. And thus
you see the foundation was laid for the
hardy-mongrel breed of cattle we have
all over this country. Many of these
mongrels still bear striking likeness
to their ancestors, but have no trans
missible properties, in consequence of
wanting fixed type. And hence it is
impossible to tell what will be the
qualities of the progeny of these scrub
cattle, as there is a constant tendency
to breed back, in all instance where the
type has not become fixed.
A thoroughbred is one that can be
traced back, in its genealogy, to pure
blooded ancestry, on both sides. A
cross is the offspring of a thoroughbred
sire of one breed, and a thoroughbred
dam of another. A grade is the issue,
or offspring, of pure bred sire or dam
on the one side, and scrub on the
other. A mongrel is one that has no
pure blood on the side of sire or dam.
To create new breed and give it q
fixed type-transmissible from parent
to ofrpring-is work of time, re-
curing great judgement, close observa'
ton, and thorough knowledge Of
anatomy and physiology. Most of the
good breeds of cattle can be traced fal
back in their history, some of them
hundreds of years. And the purity Of
their blood has been so sedulously
guarded and preserved that the type
has become fixed and sure. The doc
trine that like begets like, can be re
lied upon, with unerring certainty with
these breeds. The best and highest
development of races has been brought
about by in-and'in breeding, but it was
under the guidance and direction Of
skillful and semitic breeders. Thi
system of breeding should never BIZ
undertaken by unlearned and unskillec
breeders, as there would be danger o.
deteriorating, if not destroying the
breed through efeminacy. To succeed
with this system, the sire and dan
must each be physically perfect, other,
wise any defects in either would be in
tensifed in the offspring.
The Devon breed, that has long beer
celebrated in North Devonsbire, Eng.
is regarded as the oldest pure bred race
of cattle in the world, and many sup
pose that they can be traced back t.