PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING 



LECTURE LXXVII. 



BREEDING A SCIENCE AND AN ART. 



The subject of animal breeding presents one of the most 

 interesting and, at the same time, most difficult fields of 

 investigation open to the student of animal husbandry. We 

 have records of systematized efforts along these lines ever 

 since the middle of the eighteenth century, when Robert Bake- 

 well sought to develop a mutton breed of sheep, a beef bread 

 of cattle, and a type of heavy draft horse which would be 

 superior to those existing at that time. 



Notwithstanding this fact we are still pondering along in 

 the dark so far as many of the principles are concerned. 

 Animal breeding differs from animal feeding in that it takes 

 so much longer to get definite and reliable results. Few men 

 have patience and perseverence enough to follow any line 

 of investigation a sufficient length of time to get reliable and 

 helpful information. Furthermore, man's life is too short 

 in many instances to do much unless he should start at a 

 very early age and continue the same line during his entire 

 lifetime. This is due to the large number of force3 which 

 come into operation. There are certain laws which seem to 

 be fairly well understood, and in this connection we will con- 

 fine our attention to them. 



The object in breeding animals should be to produce cer- 

 tain well defined types which are suited to some special pur- 

 pose or demand. We should use every particle of knowledge 

 available which will in any way aid us in securing this end. 



This makes the systematic breeding of animals a science. 

 It is one of the most difficult of the sciences. The term 

 science simply means knowledge systematized. T.he breeder 

 of live stock, who in his breeding work discovers any point 



