BREEDING 



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BREMEN 



at Center College, Ky., he practiced law for 

 a time, then served in the Mexican War. On 

 his return he was elected to the state legisla- 

 ture, then to Congress in 1851 and 1853. Near 

 the close of his term as Vice-President, in 

 I860, he was nominated for President by the 

 extreme Southern Democrats, but was defeated 

 by Lincoln. He was elected to the United 

 States Senate in 1861, but resigned to enter 

 the Confederate army, serving prominently as 

 a major-general throughout the war, partic- 

 ularly in the battles of Shiloh, Murfreesboro, 

 Chickamauga, Chattanooga and Cold Harbor. 

 In Jefferson Davis's Cabinet he was Secretary 

 of War from January to April, 1865. After the 

 downfall of the Confederacy he went to 

 Europe, returning to Kentucky in 1868 to prac- 

 tice law. 



BREEDING, the science of improving breeds 

 of domestic animals and varieties of plants, 

 by constant attention to their pairing, in case 

 of animals, and by cross-fertilization in plants. 

 Breeding has for its purpose the development 

 of some particular quality or characteristic, as 

 the production of milk in the dairy cow, of 

 speed in the race horse, of strength in the draft 

 horse, of quality of wool in the sheep, or to 

 increase the size or richness of all vegetable 

 growths designed for food or for ornament. 



Plant Breeding. New varieties of plants 

 are produced by fertilizing the ovules of one 

 variety with the pollen of another variety. 

 Plants grown from the seeds thus obtained are 

 known as hybrids. It is reasonable to suppose 

 that the hybrid will possess some of the char- 

 acteristics of the two varieties from whose 

 cross-fertilization the seeds were obtained, but 

 the plant breeder cannot foretell what the 

 characteristics of the hybrid will be, and he 

 is often disappointed in his results. When the 

 hybrid fails to reach the desired standard it 

 is crossed with some other variety, and this 

 process is repeated until a plant possessing the 

 desired qualities is secured. From this we see 

 that it may require several years to produce 

 a variety of corn, wheat or barley especially 

 adapted to a given climate and soil, or to the 

 production of a given product, as a wheat that 

 contains enough protein to make macaroni. 



Much of plant breeding, however, has for 

 its purpose the improvement of one particular 

 strain of wheat, corn or other plant. This is 

 accomplished by selecting the most perfect 

 plants and planting the seed obtained from 

 them, and continuing the process for several 

 seasons, until a seed is obtained that assures a 



crop in the desired abundance and quality or 

 that will grow successfully in a given climate, 

 such as the varieties of spring wheat grown in 

 Minnesota, North Dakota and Canada. See 

 CROSS- FERTILIZATION. 



The man who has possibly attained the most 

 conspicuous success in plant development is 

 Luther Burbank. His experiments and some 

 of the most startling results secured are related 

 in the article bearing his name. 



Breeding Domestic Animals. The numerous 

 varieties or "breeds" of cattle, horses, sheep and 

 swine are proof of the wonderful changes that 

 can be produced by careful breeding. Every 

 successful breeder must first form distinct ideas 

 as to the results he wishes to produce and then 

 work carefully and persistently towards their 

 realization. The most successful breeders seek 

 to improve their animals only in one quality; 

 one cannot develop a successful dairy cow and 

 a beef cow in the same animal. The most 

 important principle in breeding is that like 

 produces like, on the principle of heredity; 

 therefore the breeder selects his animals with 

 the greatest care, giving more attention to the 

 selection of the male, because his characteristics 

 are more prominent in the offspring. The old 

 saying, "Blood will tell," is especially appli- 

 cable to stock breeding. Characteristics that 

 have been developed through a long line of 

 ancestors are more permanent than those of 

 recent origin. Because of this the successful 

 breeder places a high value on pedigree, or 

 ancestry, and those unacquainted with the facts 

 usually consider the high prices paid for blood- 

 animals a foolish expenditure of money. For 

 the breeder, however, such an outlay of money 

 is a wise investment. 



The highest degree of perfection in domestic 

 animals is reached only under the most favor- 

 able conditions of climate, food and shelter, 

 and when animals that have been raised under 

 these conditions are removed where such in- 

 fluences no longer exist, they usually fail to 

 produce the results expected. Breeding domes- 

 tic animals is both a science and an art. It 

 requires first, a love for the work, and secondly, 

 years of training and experience on the part 

 of those who would engage in it. 



The same general principles which apply to 

 the breeding of domestic animals may be ap- 

 plied more or less fully to the improvement of 

 the human race. See EUGENICS. W.F.R. 



BREMEN, brem' en, the most important port 

 of Germany, next to Hamburg. It is the 

 capital of the free state of Bremen, and is 



