90 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



bears the greatest resemblance to that parent Avhethcr male or 

 female, wliich lias exerted the greatest sway of generative influence 

 in the formation of the foetus, " that any hypothesis which would 

 assign a superiority, or set limits to the influence of either sex in 

 the product of generation is unsound and inadmissible," and he thus 

 concludes — " as therefore it is unsafe to trust to the qualities of 

 any individual animal, male or female, in improving stock, the best 

 bred and most perfect animals of both sexes should be selected and 

 employed in propagation ; there being, in short, no other certain 

 or equally efficacious means of establishing or preserving an eligi- 

 ble breed." 



Mr. Dallas, in his essaj^ starts with the idea that the seminal 

 fluid of the male invests the ovum, the formation of Avhich he as- 

 cribes to the female ; and he supports the opinion, that where 

 external appearance is concerned, the influence of the male will be 

 discovered ; but in what relates to internal qualities, the oflspring 

 will take most from the female. He concludes thus: — "When 

 color, quality of fleece, or outward form is wanted, the male may 

 be most depended on for these ; but when milk is the object, when 

 disposition, hardiness, and freedom from diseases of the viscera, 

 and, in short, all internal qualities that may be desired, then the 

 female may be most relied on." 



One of the most valuable of these papers was written by the 

 Rev. Henry Berry of Worcestershire, in which, after stating that 

 the question proposed is one full of difficulty and that the discov- 

 ery of an independent quality such as that alluded to, in either sex, 

 would be attended with beneficial results, he proceeds to show, 

 that it is not to sex, but to high blood or, in other words, to ani- 

 mals long and successfully selected, and bred with a view to par- 

 ticular qualifications, whether in the male or female parent, that 

 the quality is to be ascribed, which the Highland Society has been 

 desirous to assign correctly. 



The origin of the prevalent opinion which assigns this power 

 principally to the male, is explained by giving the probable history 

 of the first efforts in improving stock. The greatest attention 

 would naturally be paid to the male, both on account of his more 

 extended services, and the more numerous produce of which he 

 could become the parent; in consequence of Aviiich sires would be 

 well-bred before dams. "The ideas entertained respecting the 

 useful qualities of an animal would be very similar and lead to the 

 adoption of a general standard of excellence, towards which it 



