ILLUSORY AIDS TO LIVE STOCK APPRECIATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2600, 13 January 1904, Page 6

ILLUSORY AIDS TO LIVE STOCK APPRECIATION.

Many years ago the late Mr Strafiord, the famous salesman of shorthorn cattle, used to relate that when on one occasion h9 went to Fawsley to see Sir Charles Knightley's herd he was received and regaled by its owner right royally, after which Sir Charles said to him, "Now you liave had the choicest wine in my cellar end enjoyed my best cigars, I think you are in fit condition to view the shorthorns." From this it was evidently Sir Charles Knightley's opinion that the gastronomic tastes having been satiated, makes all the difference in the world in the disposition ©f the individual thoroughly to appreciate and admire any external object on which a high estimated value has been set by others. ■From what was widely known of the original Fawsley herd, it appears not to have required much of this artificial stimulus for it to be highly appreciated ; but soon other shorthorns sold for hundreds — aye, even thousands each — that if judged by an ordinary standard' of market Value, would be deemed dear at a £10 note per head. Hence the necessity of raising a glamour around them by those who want to dispose 01 them. Very frequently does it happen that it is Borne rare pedigree animal that is invested with this false, deceptive glamour surrounding form and deportment. Ancestral reputation for famous achievements, or for fancy artificial value has wonderful influence in this connection. If you are shown a piece l>f cracked crockery from Pompeii or a relic from an Egyptian mummy the natural disposition of your mind is to invest the object with a something it fails to possess. You are disposed to idolise the thing, and although thoroughly conscious of deceiving yourself, you feel perfectly willing — nay,

even wishful— to be deceived. Thus the Bates Duchesses have been well nigh worshipped as goddesses, and Mr Straff ord once told a discerning acquaintanc3 that he ought not to criticise the foundress of tha Baroness branch of the Holker Oxfords as he would an ordinary cow. The Booth men idolised the rare cattle tribes of Warlaby and Kellerby just as much. We need not go back to the antiquity of the old eastern nations for calf worship. There has been abundance of it in recent times.

Then again, it cannot bo denied that, whenever any race or family of live stock has in a few successive generations been regarded as so choice and rare that several hundreds, - and probably thousands, of pounds have been realised for a single member of it, there has always bscn a disposition to perpetuate high appreciation of progeny, even long after it has ceased to offer to view any remarkable features. Here, then, w« liave three influences, all illusory, but at the same time likely to affect tho senses of buyers : First, the glamour of rare lineage and blue blood ; then the prestige of being descended from titled pnimals which realised long figures ; and, lastly, this influence on the senses, calculated to instil the expectation to discover that ideal beauty, which is so likely to. happen when the other two things exist.

Another powerful auxiliary which seldom, if ever, fails in securing the desired object is that of systematic and regular high feeding to clothe the framo of the animal with sufficient agglomeration to hide all faults. '"Fat, like charity," it is said, "covers a multitude of sins." Not only does it fill the cracks of the structure most effectively, but imparts a rare polish tc the outside. The animal has been able to put the bloom on ; the hair has become silken or mossy, the skin offers a nice touch to the finger?. All this, however admirable in an animal being prepared for a show of fat stock, is ruinous no less than deceptive when manifested by breeding cattle. Heifers jrat into this condition are seldom good for anything afterwards in the herd to multiply their kind. Thus, what has bean pptlv designated "the vicious show-training syrlem" is known by many to be productive of as much harm as the educational influences of exhibitions do good.

Of course, it is not alone cattle thot, by being overlarded with faf, have grave faultsconcealed, and are liable to being ruined for breeding purposes, but horses, sheep, and pigs. In fact, it might be declared that the same natural' Jaw applies to animal species. Seme very distinguished breeders of equine stock in" Groat Britain are perfectly well known to bars relinquished showing solely because only by high training could they hope to win. and they ha-i found that by adopting this they had ruined their best staliions and sacrificed their most valuable fillies by rendering them useless for breeding purposes. No doubt prizewinners realise high prices, and the most

famous enormous sums, and if the object bo to sell a breeder can do noLiu'ig moie sagacious than to train and exhibit. But, on the other hand, it is v-sry certain and fortunate that the purchaser requiring an animal to reproduce his or her kind is not restricted in his choice to animals whijJi have been subjected to showyard training.