PREFACE 



THE problems of the animal-breeder may all be 

 grouped under the three subjects, reproduction, inherit- 

 ance, development. The mere multiplication of the 

 species is now, and always has been, the major work of 

 the breeder of domestic animals. But the real breeder 

 is not only concerned with the production of mere 

 numbers of animals of a given species but is primarily 

 interested in securing animals possessing the largest 

 number of desirable qualities and the least number of 

 qualities undesirable to man. 



How to maintain the good qualities that have already 

 appeared in an individual, and how to cause other and 

 better qualities to become dominant in future indi- 

 viduals of the same species, is the problem of inheritance 

 that chiefly concerns the breeder of the domestic ani- 

 mals. The highest attainments in the breeder's art 

 have come only to those who have had a good knowl- 

 edge of the principles and laws of heredity. The de- 

 velopment of animals from the fertilization of the egg 

 to maturity and their proper maintenance throughout 

 their productive lives is second in importance only to 

 inheritance. The environment of the animal, including 

 food, climate, and exercise of functions, determines the 

 degree of development in the individual animal. The 

 term Development, as used in this connection, has refer- 

 ence to the unfolding of capabilities that have come to 

 the animal through inheritance. 



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