436 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



by choosing those of great fecundity from which to breed ewes from families that yean 

 twins, cows that uniformly breed, sows that farrow large numbers of pigs and it is just as 

 essential that the males also should be selected from like prolific families and dams. 



The terms &quot;natural selection,&quot; &quot;the struggle for existence,&quot; and &quot;the survival of the 

 fittest,&quot; have been freely used by Darwin and others to convey the idea of nature and 

 methods to perpetuate her creatures. The wise breeder takes advantage of nature and 

 methods to perpetuate the excellences which his acumen and judgment in selection have 

 secured for the art of breeding. There are many things to be constantly borne in mind by 

 the breeder: the laws of variation, correlation, atavism, the effect of climatic and telluric 

 influences, care, kindness, feeding, and many other circumstances favorable or unfavorable to 

 the modeling of form, to the production of animal products, to the perfection and perpetua 

 tion of desirable qualities, and the judgment, sagacity, and indomitable perseverance of the 

 breeder, must often be taxed to the utmost limit of human tolerance. 



Though pure-bred animals are most desirable to breed from, yet in our great herds of 

 the West there are too few pure-blooded females to produce the vast herds and flocks imper 

 atively demanded. &quot;We must therefore select the purest male animals to cross on our com 

 mon females; and upon the best females of the first produce to breed up by the use of the 

 same male, or one of like purity of blood. In-and-in breeding need not be feared, if the 

 selection be judicious and the process be not too long continued. But a mistake too often 

 committed, in careless and thoughtless breeding, is the use of grade males. Grade females 

 are indispensable in extensive breeding; but a breeder had better mortgage, if need be, his 

 land to secure pure-bred male stock animals than to use unreliable grades that cannot trans 

 mit with any degree of certainty the good qualities they may possess, and one too apt to 

 transmit defects. 



If size is desired, as a general rule, breed from mature animals. But for milk produc 

 tion, in all animals, early breeding is most essential. Cows are not profitable after eight or 

 nine years of age for any purpose, unless they be of extraordinary excellence. Ewes cease 

 to be at their best at the same age as cows, though, if highly bred and valuable, they may be 

 still further bred. Mares have brought forth the most valuable foals between the ages of 

 four and fifteen years. 



Low, rich, succulent pastures are best suited for large, heavy animals; small, active ani 

 mals to high, thin, dry pastures. Luxurious feeding diminishes hardiness. Low, wet pastures 

 produce big, coarse bones, and large, flat feet in horses. In the wild state, the strongest males 

 only beget offspring. Improvement in breeding goes step by step to the highest point of 

 excellence. Prof. Tonner has shown that the lungs and liver of highly improved breeds are 

 considerably smaller than in those animals at perfect liberty.&quot; 



The stock breeders may justly be regarded among the great wealth-producers of the 

 country, and Collings, Bakewell, Bates, Hammond, and other eminent breeders who have 

 been the means of improving stock to the extent that they may be said to have almost ere- 

 ated new types of animals, should be honored as public benefactors. The interests of the 

 breeder and the farmer are identical; and the aim of the former should ever be the real and 

 not the fancied wants of the largest class of customers to be the beneficiaries of their skill, 

 the practical farmers, to whom it is an interest of great importance to secure animals that 

 will yield the largest and quickest returns on their investments. The best animals will, as a 

 general rule, be found the cheapest, and the aim of the breeder and farmer should be to 

 obtain such as are best adapted to the purposes for which they are to be used. 



