300 THE BREEDING OF ANIMALS 



this has taken the form of cooperation among three or 

 four small breeders in the purchase of a valuable bull. 

 In the United States many associations have been formed 

 among farmers for the purchase of a valuable stallion. 

 Even in the absence of conscious cooperation for improve- 

 ment, if a large number of the farmers in a given neigh- 

 borhood are like-minded in the selection of breeds and 

 all produce the same breeds, each particular animal will 

 actually be more valuable because prospective buyers 

 will be attracted by the opportunity for selection where 

 large numbers are available. 



283. Importance of numbers. The present high 

 quality of the highly improved and valuable breeds of the 

 domestic animals has been the result of long-continued 

 and rigid selection. The perpetuation of the improved 

 characters already obtained rests upon the opportunity 

 for continued selection of the same kind. The effective- 

 ness of selection will depend upon the number of individual 

 animals which are concerned in any given breeding proj- 

 ect. It follows, therefore, that the breeder who produces 

 large numbers has a decided advantage over the one 

 whose opportunity for selection has been confined to a 

 relatively small nuniber of animals. A noted breeder of 

 dogs who was asked to give the secret of his success replied, 

 " I breed many and hang many." The breeder whose 

 operations are limited to a relatively small flock or herd 

 cannot expect to accomplish as much in the improvement 

 of any class of animals as the breeder handling much 

 larger numbers. 



284. Selecting the best. The improvement of ani- 

 mals has come chiefly through selection. In the actual 

 process of selection, men have followed various methods 

 with the ultimate purpose of obtaining finally a race or 



