THE PRACTICE OF BREEDING 289 



skillful breeder because in no other way can he determine 

 whether or not his breeding animals themselves possess 

 the proper tendency to lay on fat which is an essential 

 characteristic of a well-improved meat animal. 



A high condition of the breeding animals does not 

 in any sense give the beef animal a greater power to trans- 

 mit the tendency to lay on fat to the offspring, as some 

 breeders have believed, but it does give him a selective 

 device or measure by which he may always know whether 

 his breeding animals themselves possess the characters 

 which it is desired to transmit to the offspring. 



The breeders of dairy cattle feed their cows to full 

 capacity and surround them with every favorable condi- 

 tion for the maximum production of milk. This practice 

 gives the breeder the only accurate measure of individual 

 performance and places in his hand a selective device by 

 means of which he can quickly eliminate from his herd 

 those animals that have not inherited the capacity for 

 high production. There is no other accurate measure- 

 ment which the breeder can employ that will certainly 

 register his progress in the improvement of his favorite 

 breed. 



274. Theo-eal results of selection in the improvement 

 of the domestic animals. The many improved breeds 

 of live-stock which are now possessed of qualities of great 

 economic value to man, have come to this possession 

 through artificial selection practiced by man. Are these 

 qualities which distinguish the improved breed from the 

 wild form a permanent possession of the race? Have 

 the selective processes applied by man resulted in so fixing 

 the desirable heritable characteristics that the breeder 

 may depend upon inheritance to repeat the characters 

 of the parents in the offspring? There are some indi- 



