St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-08-08
FARMER NDPLANTER

FARMER AND PLANTER.
BLENDING THE BREEDS.
os0s Crsss Purposes 1Aas Are Espsasavs
= 1Dosh 1lne go Measy.
The general desire among breedera
70 And nm animal that combines III
the desirable qualities TO be found II
several breeds, has created many Z
sroas-purpose-expensive. both - ~
CARDS time and money. Redection
should teach and convince them that
the general purpose animal II IN Inn
possibility. because extremes can not
b brought together and made to serve
harmoniously. Tho consideration Of
the claims Of any class Of stock viii
show that any effort to blend al breeds
into ono must result in failure, a such
. result will Be the obliteration Of the
breedA Take the breeds Of horses
and compare them. The conformation
Of tho thoroughbred runner, which
gallops, differs greatly from the trot-
ter, while tho structure Of the Clydes-
dale and Percheron il 10 dissimilar to
the Aeet runners and trotters - to ut
terly destroy the breeds should cross
ing Be resorted to. Cattle have been
classified into breeds that excel for
bsef. milk and butter. These charac-
teristics have been secured by centu-
lies Of selection. To attempt to com
bine them in one breed II TO destroy
them, because where . gain II made
In one direction there In . correspond
ing loas elsewhere. and failure ensuee.
Two opposites can never be made to
mest. and any deviation from the work
6f centuries will require centuries Of
work to overcome what has been 20
somplished
It has BEEN eontended that by the
crossing Of breeds An animal can be
produced that will combine 1t least
some Of the advantages Of both par
entA The fact - that there 10 mo-
room for expsriments In crossing. The
breeds themselves are the results Of
crossing, and al such work has been
done long ago. only that the crossing
heretofore done has resulted In salec-
tions which have given farmers breeds
with Axed characteristics. Il u,
therefore, useless TO cross for that
which can be lad BY direct uss Of
the breeds that arc really the outcome
Of crosseA The 6horthorn breed Of
cattle, % famous for producing
beef, + bred with . tendency to In
crease their weight in nesh, and In .
short times They arc not adapted 10
the peoductiou Of milk and butter
(except In individual cases), hence the
crossing Of the shorthorn and Hol-
stein will result in IN animal that does
not posaess the capacity to produce -
much beef - the shorthorn or milk
and butter Of the Holstein. the ulti-
mate result being los instead Of >
gain.
Experience teaches that any attempt
70 secure > general purpose animal II
9 Hstep backward. Instead Of the union
being superior to the parent stock, the
Anal outcome h the scrub. The care
full selections Of centuries can not b
Improved upon In year or . decade.
Hundreds Of attempts have been made
10 combine the merits Of different
breeds. but the paths only lead to
scrubs and ruin. Each breed has it,
dominent talent-its superiority in .
certain Nne-and to attempt to give
II two talents II to lessen the excel
lence Of tho one. Tho farmer who
wishes to improve must not expect .
general purpose animal He should
determine in which line Of excellence
he prefers to improve. and then resort
to the source Of that Improvement.
II he peters . beef-producing animal.
he should breed for beef only. He
can not get beef, milk and butter Of
the greatest quantity by any combine
tion. The breeds have long been sep
arated, and he must use them for tho
purposes for which they arc intended.
1t must Be admitted that many Of the
scrubs Of the present day arc the re-
suits Of crossing TO secure general pur-
pose animals. In poultry this II partic-
ularly noticeable, ~ hundreds Of ex-
periments arc made in crossing the
breeds every year, but In every case
where departure from purity Of blood
has been made. instead Of general pur-
pose stock the scrubs have taken the
plsess Of the pure breedA-Rural
World.