BREEDING: 



AND 



THE MENDELIAN DISCOVERY ' 



'" CHAPTEE I 



BREEDING AND HEREDITY 



The practical breeder and the student of heredity 

 both deal with the same natural process, but for very 

 different reasons. The breeder's object is to main- 

 tain or increase the value of the animals and plants 

 which minister to the needs or please the fancy of 

 mankind. The student of heredity aims at finding 

 out how the characters of animals and plants are 

 handed on from generation to generation. The 

 breeder is not concerned with the interpretation of 

 what he achieves ; he does not care how the charac- 

 ters of his stock are handed on from generation to 

 generation, so long as the changes which he effects 

 tend in the direction of an improvement. The stu- 

 dent of heredity, on the other hand, is not concerned 

 with the application of what he finds out ; he does 

 not care whether the characters of his material are 

 tending in the direction of an improvement, so long 

 as he finds out how they are handed on from genera- 

 tion to generation. But there cannot, I think, be 

 any doubt that both the practical breeder and the 



