140 PRINCIPLES OF STOCK-BREEDING. 



their selection of breeding-stock to the animals that 

 had the characters they wished to perpetuate. As it 

 was only among the animals descended from a com- 

 mon ancestry with the same hereditary tendencies 

 that the desired variations were found, they were 

 frequently compelled to breed together animals that 

 were more or less closely related. 



Their selections were made to secure in both 

 parents the same general characteristics that they 

 wished to obtain in their offspring, and the close re- 

 lationships observed in their breeding-stock were but 

 the necessary incidents of their practice. 



Close breeding with them was but a means of im- 

 provement, and not an end that was thought to be 

 desirable in itself. 



The true method of improvement practised by 

 these eminent breeders is frequently misunderstood, 

 and their intentions have, consequently, been misrep- 

 resented. A friend of mine, on his return from 

 England, told me that he had learned an important 

 secret in breeding that he believed to be a prevail- 

 ing rule among the best breeders. It was this: 

 "Breed from half brother and sister;" and an ex- 

 amination of a large number of the most celebrated 

 pedigrees apparently made the theory a plausible 

 one. 



An incidental feature in the methodical improve- 

 ment of animals had, however, been mistaken for the 

 real causes of improvement, which were entirely over- 

 looked. 



Animals are not improved by breeding except in 

 the increased stability gained in dominant characters, 



