304 PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 



or points which will be helpful to his fellow breeders, can 

 well be termed a scientist. 



The animal breeder who applies the principles of breeding 

 as worked out by the men from Bakewell down to the present 

 day is an artist in the fullest meaning of the word. Art is 

 simply the application of science to some desired end. The 

 breeder of live stock is a moulder of animal form. His work 

 is the greatest of that of all artists. He does not deal with 

 dead forms of material. He is concerned in the moulding 

 and forming of living organisms. If he can by years of sys- 

 tematic study in the mating and care of animals produce a 

 horse with all the parts so developed and blended as to 

 possess the style and grandeur which we sometimes see in 

 the American gaited saddle horse, he has certainly accom- 

 plished a high art. 



One of the most commonly accepted laws in animal breed- 

 ing is the law that like produces like. If this were not true 

 in a general way, we would not have any guide at all in our 

 work. Still, this law does not always hold true; in fact, it 

 is doubtful if it ever holds true in every detail. Animals, 

 like people, may possess many characteristics or points of 

 similarity, yet there is always or nearly always some point of 

 difference. It may be in color; it may be in form; it may 

 be in disposition, or one or several of a great number of 

 other things, all of which go to make up the animal. 



If the law that like produces like always held true in every 

 detail the breeding of live stock would be a very simple and 

 uninteresting vocation. If such were the case, we would not 

 have our many different breeds and types of live stock. In 

 cattle, for instance, they would all be the same in color, form, 

 size, purpose, and so on. It is that law, which is working 

 all the time, sometimes in a marked way and more often 

 in an apparently unnoticeable manner, that like does not 

 produce like in every detail which makes the breeding of 

 animals difficult, interesting and one of the greatest of the 

 sciences. It is to this law that we owe our marked improve- 

 ment in the various classes of stock. It was by taking ad- 

 vantage of this law that Bakewell, Booth, Cruickshank and 

 the many other noted breeders were able to accomplish their 

 marvelous work in the field of animal breeding. If in the 

 breeding of animals we are ever to accomplish anything 

 permanent and useful, it will be done by having fixed stand- 

 ards or ideals of what is best, then start out and never let 



