SELECTION OF PARENT STOCK. 87 



every organ in the body should be perfect in its structure, 

 and should each perform its legitimate functions in perfect 

 harmony with all others. 



LAW OF PROPAGATION DEFINED AND ILLUSTRATED. 



This is the standard, the model upon which this great law 

 of propagation is founded, though "subject in development to 

 many conditions, inasmuch as the deviations from this stand- 

 ard have been so great, and are so diversified. 



No animal, however, has this perfect organization. We 

 find only approximations towards it in endless variety ; and 

 then, as we apply the laws of similiarity or resemblance, — 

 that "like begets like," — we have two distinct agents, pos- 

 sessing various and unlike qualities, from which, the product 

 is to be obtained. In this complex and twofold organization, 

 we have a certain kind and amount of capital, which, in order 

 to bring about successful results, requires nice discrimination 

 and careful management. In the mixing up and blending of 

 similar and dissimilar qualities appertaining to every organ of 

 the body, we may get sometimes the resemblance, more or 

 less, of one progenitor, and at other times the likeness of the 

 other. The strong and sharp points of the one may by this 

 union be modified or softened down by the better and milder 

 qualities of the other. Then again this union may result in a 

 combination of qualities, which will become more marked and 

 predominant than are found in either parent stock. Thus 

 there may be great improvement which cannot be secured in 

 any other way, and on the other hand defects or evil tenden- 

 cies may be transmitted in an intensified form. 



Here comes in the lair of inheritance, by means of which 

 many of the difficult problems in breeding can be explained. 

 The more perfect the animal is in all its organs, the sounder 

 is its constitution, the better its health, and the more beauti- 

 ful its form. But to obtain such an organization time is 

 required. There must be the most careful selection of the 

 parent stock ; nice adaptation and watchful management, ex- 

 tending through several generations. It is in this way that 

 you obtain "pure blood," by continuously weeding out all 

 defects or impurities in organization for a long period of 

 time. 



