CHAPTER VIII 

 DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



The progress that a nation is making can with reason- 

 able accuracy be measured by the kind of live stock it 

 raises. The general rule is, poor stock, poor people. All 

 the prosperous nations of the globe, especially the grain- 

 growing nations, get a large share of their wealth by rais- 

 ing improved stock. The stock bred by these nations is 

 now, however, very different from the stock raised by the 

 same nations years ago. As soon as man began to pro- 

 gress in the art of agriculture he became dissatisfied with 

 inferior stock. He therefore bent his energies to raise the 

 standard of excellence in domestic animals. 



By slow stages of animal improvement the angular, thin- 

 flanked wild boar of early times has been transformed into 

 the sleek Berkshire or the well-rounded Poland-China. In 

 the same manner the wild sheep of the Old World have 

 been developed into wool and mutton breeds of the finest 

 excellence. By constant care, attention, and selection, the 

 thin, leggy wild ox has been bred into bounteous milk-pro- 

 ducing Jerseys and Holsteins or into Shorthorn mountains 

 of flesh. From the small, bony, coarse and shaggy horse 

 of ancient times has descended the ponderous Norman 

 draft horse and the fleet Arab courser. 



The matter of meat production is one of vital importance 

 to man, for animal food must always supply a large part 

 of man's ration. 



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