OF THE 



UNIVERSITY 



PRINCIPLES OF STOCK-BREEDING, 



CHAPTEE I. 



BREEDING AS AN AKT. 



THE art of breeding domesticated animals, for the 

 various purposes to which they are adapted, has been 

 practised from the earliest times. 



The oldest writers on agriculture gave directions 

 for the breeding and improvement of cattle, and some 

 of their maxims are often repeated by modern authori- 

 ties as the best practical guides to the farmer. 



It has long been known that the characteristics of 

 parents were transmitted to their offspring, and the 

 results of observation were tersely expressed in the 

 familiar aphorism, " like produces like." As a natural 

 corollary of this generally-accepted law of the animal 

 organization, the rule " breed from the best " very 

 early found a place among the approved maxims of 

 the art. 



The principles of breeding, up to the time of Bake- 

 well, were essentially comprised in these two apo- 

 thegms ; but it is evident, from the practice of breed- 

 ers, that they did not fully appreciate the extended ap- 



