436 Bureau of Farmers' Institutes. 



fittest survive. In a state of nature the vast majority of indi- 

 viduals perish, leaving no progeny to hand down their characters 

 to future generations. In the long run only those survive who are 

 particularly fitted for and are victorious in the struggle. And 

 before man took a hand in her destiny, what was the fit cow? It 

 was not the one with incurved waxy horns. It was not the one 

 with a hack level from the horns to the setting on of the tail. It 

 was not the one with incurved thighs and a prominent pelvic arch. 

 It was not the one with hig milk-veins and double-chest extensions. 

 It was not even the cow that could give 10,000 pounds of milk 

 containing 5 per cent, of fat in twelve months. But it was the 

 cow who could beat off the wild beast that would devour her young. 

 It was the cow who had hardiness and vitality to live through the 

 time when vegetation was buried deep under the winter snow. It 

 was the cow who, when there was not food enough for all, had 

 strength and stamina enough to be among those who survived the 

 famine. In short the best cow of that day was the one who was 

 enabled to overcome the daily and almost hourly vicissitudes of 

 that time. 



But man has changed all that. When we domesticate the cow 

 and provide her with food and shelter her against the cold ; when 

 we kill the offspring of some and preserve the offspring of others, 

 then we have reversed the economy of nature and no longer put a 

 premium on hardiness and brute strength. And so for thousands 

 of years the cow has been dropping off some of her old characters 

 and has been assuming some new ones. So here we have changes 

 due to environment. 



And then we have another vast series of changes due to man's 

 conscious selection. Note here that man's conscious selection of 

 the cow has not always been toward the same ideals. It is 

 perhaps strange, but I think true that it was beef rather than 

 milk that first attracted the attention of breeders. It is 150 

 years since Bakewell brought the now extinct Long Horns to 

 great perfection, and bred Old Comely with the fat on her sir- 

 loin six inches thick. It is more than 100 years since the careful 

 recording of Short Horn pedigrees was begun. It is ninety years 

 since the Short Horn bull Oomet sold for 1,000 gr. ($5,000), but 

 it is less than fifty years since we began to keep records of pro- 

 duction or to record the pedigrees of animals bred for milk 

 instead of beef production. 



The most evident development of the cow is in accord with 

 the constantly growing conviction that she must be selected along 1 



