Testing of Fure-Bred Cows 



307 



distinction.- This is probably in part 

 fine to superior urban opportunity, but 

 no one knows whether the disadvan- 

 tages may not outweigh the advantages. 

 Whatever be the causes of the pheno- 

 menon it is certainly a fact in accord- 

 ance with mental inheritance since it 

 is perfectly well recognized that tal- 

 ented youth longs for the life of the 

 metropolis and naturally migrates city- 

 ward, and this inflow improves the 

 quality of urban germ plasm. 



Also, whether they marry in the 

 country or marry in the city, the wives 

 of these young men, who become the 

 mothers of the next generation, are 

 probably above the average in men- 

 tality ; and this also works, as far as 

 mental standards are concerned, to the 

 advantage of the urban and to the 



detriment of the rural districts. The 

 expectation that the wives will be 

 similar to their husbands rests upon 

 statistical investigations, which prove 

 that there is a tendency for like to mate 

 with like.'' The principle is spoken of 

 as assortative mating. Whether it be 

 stature, eye color, hair color, longevity, 

 insanity, general health, truthfulness 

 or intelligence, exact measurements 

 show that a man and his wife, though 

 not related by blood, actiially resemble 

 each other as much as do uncle and 

 niece or first cousins. Also we may 

 add that physical superiority is corre- 

 lated with mental superiority, so here 

 is another explanation of why our city 

 registrants made such a good showing 

 in these recent army statistics. 



The Testing of Pure-Bred Cows in New South V/ales 



A stud dairy sire should be pure- 

 bred, of good type and constitution, but 

 not every pure-bred sire is descended 

 from ancestresses that were capable of 

 yielding large quantities of milk and 

 butter-fat, and, further, not all are 

 capable of getting stock that possess 

 these dairy qualities. These productive 

 traits are hereditary, and one of the 

 principal things expected from the 

 testing of our stud stock is the defining 

 of those families in which this factor 

 is strong and dominant. So far, with 

 only four years' records to refer to, our 

 quest in this direction is limited, but 

 the knowledge already in our possession 

 encourages the hope that with the con- 

 tinuance of testing these families will 

 be as well known in a few more years 

 as those from which spring our famous 

 race-horses. When this is established 

 the dairy herds, not only of this State 

 but of Australasia, can be bred up on 

 proper production lines, and the pros- 

 pect of their yields being doubled 

 brought much nearer realization. 



REVIEW OF THE VEAr's WORK 



The figirres for the work of previous 

 years have been taken from the annual 

 reports of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, of New South Wales, which are 

 made up to the 30th June of each year. 

 The following tables for twelve months 

 ended 30th June, 1916 and 1917 re- 

 spectively, will show how those two 

 periods compare (see appendix). 



It will be seen from the foregoing 

 that increased productiveness was made 

 in all cases, except that of the milking 

 shorthorn, which breed showed a very 

 slight decrease. The average increase 

 was 65 pound butter (20%) and 2,032 

 pound milk (25.5%). While the num- 

 ber of cows undergoing test was greater 

 in 1917 by sixty-four, the number to 

 com])lete the 273 days period was less 

 by thirty than at the 30th June, 1916. 

 — L. T. Maclnnes, in Formers Bulletin 

 No. 117, Department of Agriculture, 

 New South Wales. 



- See Woods, Frederick Adams, Science, April 9 and July 2, 1909. 



3 See Popenoe, Paul, applied Eugenics. N. Y., 1918, p. 126 and Chapter XI. 



