GERMAN ZOOTECHNY 



Immense Strides Made by Live-Stock Industry of the Empire are Largely Due 

 to Science of Genetics — The Importance of the Pedigree — 



Line-Breeding. 



Review of a book by Georg Wilsdorf 

 Ticrzuchtdircktor und Hauptgeschdftsfuhrer der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Ziich- 



tungskunde, Berlin, Germany. 



GERMANY'S large contributions 

 to the science of genetics during 

 the last half century are well 

 known, but the extent to which 

 they have been put to practical use by 

 the Germans themselves is much less 

 familiar to Americans. Some of the 

 brilliant work in plant breeding is indeed 

 recognized; but it is probable that few 

 members of this association have any 

 clear idea of the present state of the 

 science of animal breeding in the 

 German empire. It may be of interest, 

 therefore, to review at some length a 

 brief but authoritative statement of the 

 situation from the pen of Dr. Georg 

 Wilsdorf, general director of the in- 

 fluential German Genetic Association. 



Dr. Wilsdorf's little book on Animal 

 Breeding' was first published in 1912 

 as one of a series of popular hand-books 

 on scientific subjects. In 1914 it was 

 reissued as a bulletin of the German 

 Genetic Association ; it seems reasonable 

 to assume, therefore, that its doctrines 

 are those accepted by the leading 

 zootechnists of Germany. 



The live-stock industry of Germany 

 (reaching its highest development in 

 the northwest) has increased until it 

 now surpasses the agricultural and 

 horticultural industries in importance, 

 according to Dr. Wilsdorf, who estimates 

 the vearly production of animal hus- 

 bandrv at $1,675,000,000 as against 

 SI, 300,000,000 for the produce of field 

 and garden. And while he recognizes 

 that this gradual preponderance of live- 

 stock over the agricultural industries 

 has been largely due to economic con- 



ditions, he thinks it has only been made 

 possible through an intelligent applica- 

 tion of the principles of genetics. The 

 demands made by the farmers on science 

 have, he says, changed the whole 

 character of zoology in Germany; while 

 the zoologists formerly concerned them- 

 selves almost exclusively with wild 

 animals, the tendency now is rather to 

 concentrate attention on the domes- 

 ticated ones. 



A CHANGED VIEWPOINT. 



But the studies of zoologists and the 

 experiments of naturalists on zootechny 

 can easily be credited with more in- 

 fluence on the live-stock industry than 

 they really have had; for, as the author 

 points out, the fundamental fact in the 

 successful application of genetics to 

 animal breeding is not the discovery of 

 any new law, but a change in the view- 

 point of breeders. In the past, they 

 have looked only at the generation or 

 two before their eyes ; the acquirement of 

 a habit of looking as far back as possible, 

 instead of merely at the animals im- 

 mediately to be mated, is what has 

 revolutionized animal breeding. In 

 other words, it is the realization of the 

 importance of the pedigree that has 

 made animal breeding a science rather 

 than an art. vSuch a statement might 

 justly be considered the text of Dr. 

 Wilsdorf's book, for to it he returns 

 time after time. 



The importance of pedigree above 

 everything else was realized by the 

 Arabs centuries ago, but is still ignored 

 b}' many a breeder in Europe and 



^ " Tierziichtung " von Dr. Georg Wilsdorf, pp. 110, figs. 23, price one mark, bound in linen 

 M. 1.25; Bandchen No. 369 "Aus Natur und Geisteswelt" sammlung, B. G. Teubner, Leipzig, 

 1912; 17th Flugschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Ziichtungskunde, Berhn, 1914. 



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