No. 112. 297 



BREEDING ANIMALS. 



Br SANFORD HOWARD. 



'•Although in all cases the system of in-and-in breeding is not 

 desirable in our domestic animals, yet when animals properly 

 formed have been obtained, it is the only method to retain that 

 form." 



The above sentence occurs in a paper on the breeding of ani- 

 mals, by Valentine Bar ford, published in the Journal of the 

 ^ Royal AgriicLiltural Society. It relates to a very important sub- 

 ject, upon which our farmers generally possess but little informa- 

 tion. The first question wliich will arise in the minds of most 

 persons, relates to Mr. Barlbrd's conclusions, as expressed in the 

 above quotation. Are ihey correct? In the settlement of this 

 question, however, it is necessary to understand in the first place, 

 -what is in-and-in breeding. It is a term which, tliough often 

 used, is variously understood ; or rather, perhaps, isnot generally 

 understood at all. As applied by most persons, it is evidently 

 intended to signify the coupling of animals of some sort of rela- 

 tionship ; but the same ap])lication of the term is often made to 

 cases diift^ring widely in their degrees of affinity. For instance, 

 if common cows are bred to a Devon bull, and the offspring of 

 that union are bred tcgctlier, the latter is called in-and-in breed- 

 ing ; if oifspring are bred to either of the parents, that is called 

 in-and-in breedin2;; or if offspiing of the same parents (brother 

 and sister,) are bred togetlier, that is called b7 the same term. 

 It is obvious that such a use ol language conveys no distinct idea, 

 and hence a ninr*" strict definition of the terra is required. 



Sir John S, S(;bjight, in a valual)le pajier entitled "Art of Im- 

 proving the Breeds of Domestic Animals," published several 

 years since ])V the Britisli Hoard of Aixriculture, considered tlie 

 term in-r.nd-in to si^nily laeeding from animals cf frfcisi/i/ the 

 same blord. This definition was afterwards adopted by Bev 

 Henry Berry, a well known writer on lueediiig cattle, as will as 

 by others. It is th(^ only intelligible definition I liave ever seen. 

 If it is received, it follows that none of the cases before alluded 



