480 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



others. ***** Hamilton, the great Vermont sheep breeder, said 

 that of his own ram lambs there was not more than one out of three hundred 

 that he would use in his own flock; which merely means that he had devel- 

 oped his flock to such a hight point that even of the rams of his own breeding 

 there was not more than one in three hundred that could better the flock. 



It will readily be seen that there is no short formula by which to insure 

 wealth or success in this line of effort. It requires good judgment, taste, 

 skill, patience ; indeed you can bring into play all the good qualities that 

 you possess and you will find them all of use in making you a successful 

 cattle breeder. 



Mr. Geo. W. Stuart: Does in and in breeding, or line breeding, as it is 

 sometimes called, necessarily result in weakness? 



Dr. Miles: In and in breeding has about it certain possibilities of evil, 

 and yet there has never been any considerable improvement of live stock 

 made without it. People are sometimes hurt by the railroad, and neverthe- 

 less we continue to use railroads and probably always will. Do you ask why 

 is in and in breeding necessary? Because, in order to fix similarity of char- 

 acters, you are often reduced to the necessity of taking relatives in order to 

 get similars. In and in breeding is not of itself bad, but it does serve to 

 intensify characteristics, and if these are bad then you will suffer. 



THE RELATION OF BREED TO MILK AND BEEF PRODUTION. 



BY PROF. SAMUEL JOHNSON, OF MICHIGAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



Paper Presented at the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Holstein-Friesian Association of America, 



in New York, March 20, 1889. 



Breed is the term in common use by which we designate a group of ani- 

 mals, distinguished by qualities not common to other groups of the same 

 species. Breed characteristics may be few or many. To illustrate, color 

 alone is the one characteristic that distinguishes the Essex from the Suffolk 

 breed of swine. In all other respects the two breeds are identical. The 

 Sussex breed of cattle differ from the Devon only in being of larger size, 

 according to our best authorities, and I believe there are examples where 

 the distinction between the breeds has been, in fact, in name only. Usually, 

 however, these points of difference are more numerous and pronounced, 

 embracing color, form, size, temperament and uses. Indeed, a trained 

 observer will, in comparing the animals of distinct breeds, note points of 

 difference in almost every external characteristic. To his eye, these exter- 

 nals indicate differences of internal organism that have to do with with the 

 amount of food consumed, the ability to assimilate and digest such amount 

 as shall return most profit in a certain line of products, — in short, the utili- 

 zation of food in production. These breed characteristics are sometimes the 

 product of natural causes. More frequently man's agency is apparent in the 

 changes observed, and these are in line with the universally admitted law in 

 all animal life, the tendency to adapt itself to its environment. 



The habitat of animals has much to do with their peculiarities of develop- 

 ment. Upon soil conditions depend the kind and amount of food produced, 

 and so soils indirectly have much to do with the developing and establish- 

 ing of breed characteristics. Fertile lands, level or moderately rolling, 



