IN-BREEDING 63 



presumption that close-breeding' of itself, apart altogether 

 from its tendency in this case to develop flesh, has to do with 

 the acknowledged lowering of the power of milk production. 

 It is a well-established fact, that persistent in-breeding leads 

 to impotency in the matter of conception. It is true that 

 Shorthorns are not so liable to suffer in this way as some 

 other classes of stock ; yet Charles Colling must have felt the 

 tendency when, after trying his cow " Phoenix " with good 

 bulls without success, he fell back, as a " last resort," on a bull 

 which was one-fourth Galloway and three-fourths Shorthorn, 

 and attained his end. This was at one with the common 

 custom of putting a good country or common bull to a well- 

 bred stock of cows which have through close-breeding 

 become weak in their powers of reproduction. It is 

 admitted that close-breeding lowers the power of animals to 

 produce young, and it is not wonderful to find it also impair- 

 ing the power of providing sufficient milk to support them 

 should they come into existence. It would be extraordinary 

 if the reproductive system were seriously affected as regards 

 its first functions, and left in a normal condition as regards 

 those of a later period. 



There were several circumstances in the management of 

 the early Shorthorns which made it possible to carry in- 

 breeding to its greatest length with the minimum of bad 

 results. Animals were kept in moderate condition and in 

 a natural state. Their food was mostly grass in summer, and 

 hay or straw in winter. The system of letting bulls out on 

 hire lent renewed vigour of constitution through change of 

 air, food, and general surroundings. The influence of such 

 change as a precaution towards the preservation of health 

 is universally admitted in the human species ; and in the 

 matter of consanguinity, it has been shown that the offspring 

 from the marriage of cousins is not associated with either 

 mental or physical weakness if the individuals in question 

 have been reared in parts geographically distant from each 

 other. The shipment of cattle to America and other 

 countries, and the return of their progeny, has unquestion- 

 ably increased the constitutional vigour of the stock. The 

 same remark applies to the more frequent transfer and return 

 of Shorthorns between Scotland and Ireland. The influence 

 is not one which shows itself merely in the members of a 



