Читать книгу Friendly Acres - Peter McArthur - Страница 7

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Far be it from me to say anything that might discourage or irritate those good men who are trying to improve the live stock on our Canadian farms. They are doing a great and good work. Let it be distinctly understood that I am convinced of this fact, and that the criticisms I propose to make are in the way of suggestions that might possibly be acted on with profit. To begin with, I wish to inquire if it is absolutely necessary in developing better milk-producing or beef-producing stock to breed the last trace of intelligence out of our cattle. I may have got into contact with a wrong strain, but there is no question that the pure-bred live stock of which I have had experience are of the kind spoken of by a worthy Scotchman, who claimed that his pure-bred Dandy Dinmont terriers were "pure-bred to the point of eedeeocy." Apparently developing a purer strain had a disastrous effect on the intelligence of the breed, and this keen Scotchman had noticed the fact. I want to know if it is not possible to develop the profit-making qualities of our live stock and still retain at least a trace of brains. This mood of exasperation is due to my daily experience with a pure-bred yearling Shorthorn heifer. If there are ten perfectly sane and safe ways of moving from any given point without making a nuisance of herself and if there is only one possible way, and that a difficult one, at blundering into trouble, that congenital idiot will take the one fool way. She is all the time blundering into trouble. If she profited by this sort of thing by getting stolen bits of food I could have more patience with her, but her sporadic bursts of silliness are absolutely purposeless.

In this respect she is in constant contrast with a grade yearling that has a strain of the primitive Red Cow in her blood. The grade is really a better beast than the pure-bred. She is bigger, stronger and better built. Moreover, she is intelligent. She gets into mischief at every chance, but her mischief takes the form of stealing chop feed or an ear of corn or something else that is nourishing. When I suddenly descend on her in the midst of her maraudings she looks up brightly and makes her escape with a gay sideways kick of her heels before punishment can reach her. If the pure-bred happens to blunder into profitable mischief she stands stupidly until I descend on her in my wrath. No doubt she deserves her place in the herd book and will be a profitable cow in due time, but I do wish she had some glimmering of sense. If anyone knows of a strain of pure-breds that have not degenerated mentally I would take a really scientific interest in hearing about them.

There are times when I wonder if over-refinements are not as destructive in human affairs as they seem to be in stock-breeding. At the present moment I could name half a dozen business organizations that are efficient "to the point of eedeeocy." They claim that business is business and do everything from what they regard as a pure-bred business point of view. The result is that much of their conduct is as silly as that of our pure-bred yearling. They make enemies when a mere trifle of courtesy would enable them to make friends. They refuse small concessions on the plea that business is business, and by their refusal lose a great deal of valuable good-will. Some of them flaunt their prosperity before a public that is not unduly prosperous and are arrogant where firmness might well be clothed in gentleness. Of course, this does not apply to business organizations that have not felt it necessary to eliminate all the human feeling from their operations. I know of some where even the remotest office boy cocks his hat at the same carefree angle as the genial President of the company. And just because the President is human enough to do a kind act occasionally every official in his employ is imbued with the idea that courtesy pays. But the advocates of "Business is business" scorn that kind of weakness. They are efficient "to the point of eedeeocy."