SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VIII. 571 



■been for ages of the same form, color, habits, and character. The quail 

 of to-day has the exact shape of body, color and penciling of feathers that 

 it had hundreds of years ago. The leopard has not changed a spot nor 

 lost any of its cunning in a thousand years. The wild hog is as fierce 

 and fleet as when first hunted in the primeval forest. The tawny lion 

 is as strong and bold and courageous and of the same noble presence as 

 of old. 



Opposed to the force of heredity there has been developed another force 

 termed evolution. It is a radical and progressive principle that by selec- 

 tion and different environment unfolds and develops the animal changed 

 in color, in form, in size, in quality, and in disposition, as seen in domestic 

 animals which have been aided and directed by the hand of man. Exam- 

 ples of the principle of selection may be seen in the splendid uniformed 

 and marked Herefords, in the fine qualities of the Short-Horns, and in the 

 sleek Aberdeen-Angus and rich-coated Galloways; and in the beautiful 

 Berkshires and their American cousins, the Poland-Chinas and Durocs: 

 in the ponderous Percherons and Shires, and in the level headed, sweep- 

 ing-gaited Hambletonians, Wilkeses, Patchens, and McGregors; in the 

 flocks of the golden hoof and golden fleece; in the endless varieties of 

 birds — birds of utility, birds of barred and penciled feathers, birds of gay 

 plumage, and birds of song. All of the distinct breeds of improved stock 

 are impressive examples of the principle of selection. 



Wild animals are strictly pure-bred and can be depended upon, in the 

 state of nature, to reproduce their own kind unerringly. Domestic ani- 

 mals, especially those of the improved breeds, which are modified forms 

 of the original, will reproduce themselves imperfectly unless guided and 

 directed by the hand of man. In the formation and development of a' 

 new breed the principle of original heredity is temporarily overcome by 

 selection and in breeding and mating certain animals, changing color, 

 form, and disposition, by patterning after the original principle of here- 

 dity, until the desired type appears fixed in the family or breed. But 

 there is a continued conflict between the principle of heredity and the 

 principle of selection. The forces of heredity battle for supremacy ana 

 return to the original state; the forces of selection rise in arms against a 

 relentless foe striving for advancement, striving for victory. And when 

 good judgment is not exercised in selecting and mating breeding animals, 

 unaided and unsupported by generous feeding and careful attention, the 

 forces of selection are weakened for the want of sustenance and lack of 

 reenf orcements ; the principle of selection halts on the road of improve- 

 ment; retrograde movements follow — retreats by the route of scrub ances- 

 tors — and development is vanquished. 



The breeder who introduces violent outcrosses one after another 

 invites and fosters the very elements that, will destroy the result of years 

 and maybe a lifetime, of work and systemtaic breeding. By mixing the 

 Mood of animals from different sources he invites a conflict between con- 

 tending forces; the pattern is destroyed; the principle of selection loses 

 the battle, is captured, and heredity leads the individual back to scrub. 

 This is the result of indiscriminately crossing different strains of the 



