GENETICS AND BREEDING 163 



question whether with all his science he could him- 

 self breed, or tell any one else how to produce, 

 finer specimens than he will see there. Yet by 

 hypothesis that is exactly what he ought to be 

 able to do, if genetics is to set up as a teacher and 

 guide to the best practical methods of live-stock 

 breeding. 



It is capable of abundant historical proof that 

 many years ago, before the beginning of the world 

 movement towards agricultural education, experi- 

 mentation and the grounding of a science of agri- 

 culture in general, there were in existence indi- 

 vidual animals (even flocks and herds) , and strains 

 of seeds of farm crops which were probably in- 

 trinsically as fine, as productive, and generally as 

 excellent as any that we know to-day. Given as 

 intelligent care and feeding as our prize-winning 

 animals and plants now get, there is every reason 

 to believe that they would have equaled or sur- 

 passed our finest specimens of to-day. Some 

 specific examples may be cited. Mr. George A. 

 Scott,! of Nashville, Tenn., had in 1863 "a com- 

 mon scrub cow" which produced in one year 

 1447| gallons of milk. Taking the weight of one 

 quart of milk at 2.15 lbs. as sufficiently close for 

 practical purposes, this gives a record of 12,448.5 

 lbs. of milk for the year. This is a respectable 

 figure even for present standards. Going back 

 half a centurv earlier, we have the record of a 



^ The Cultivator and Country Gentleman, Vol. 28, p. 401, 1866. 



