J 79** (mpro'vementqfjhetpandwoo!. 51 



1 J. influence nf breed in altering the qualities ofjioeep. 



Opinions ditFer prodigiously respecting this impor- 

 tant object of discufsion. Nor can it be otherwise, 

 "while the objects above specified fhall remain unde- 

 cided. Were all these previous questions to be fully 

 ascertained, we fhould then be able to speak with 

 certainty of the influence of breed, and to act de- 

 cisively in practice. Till they be ascertained \^(ie 

 must remain in a state of perpetual uncertainty and 

 doubt. 



By the practice of the greatest improvers in Bri- 

 tain, it appears that breed seems to be found to hav^e 

 a sovereign and uncontroulable influence in altering 

 the nature of the animal, though it has not a power 

 of checking the collateral influence of other circum- 

 stances on the animal economy. No man, for ex- 

 ample, who breeds from a Lancaflure long horned 

 bull and cow, will ever produce a cow of the fliort 

 horned Dutch breed. Here the effect of breed is in- 

 stantly obvious, and cannot be mistaken. But 

 fliould a man, in the the rich vale of Gloucester, 

 breed from a Highland cow and bull, which,, in an 

 ordinary soil, would not exceed twenty-eight or thirty 

 stone weight, he will gradually raise them to such 

 a size as to weigh sixty, seventy, or perhaps eighty 

 stone or upwards ; while a breed of Englifh cattle, by 

 being reared for a length of time, upon a poor pas- 

 ture would be gradually diminiflied in size till it be- 

 came smaller than the Highland breed, reared upon a, 

 richer soil. Thus would the two breeds, in respect 

 to si^e at least, be apparently interchanged the one 

 for the other, as the smaller might become the lar- 

 ger. This, to hasty observers, would seem to be a. 



