386 PRINCIPLES OF STOCK-BREEDING. 



breeding may in fact be epitomized in the one word 

 " selection," which involves the application of every 

 established principle of practice, and a consideration 

 of the influence of every peculiarity of form. 



The animals selected must be adapted to some 

 well-defined purpose in the system of management, 

 and to the conditions in which they are placed. 



The principle that was first recognized in the 

 selection of stock was the adaptation of size to the 

 physical features of the farm, and the supply of feed. 

 Columella notices the difference in form and disposi- 

 tion of cattle and sheep arising from the conditions in 

 which they are placed. 1 



Fitzherbert, having in mind the same influence, 

 says : " And take hede where thou byeste any leane 

 cattel or fat, and of whom, and where it was bred. 

 For if thou bye out of a better grounde than thou 

 haste thy selfe, that cattel wyll not lyke with 

 the." ' 



Thomas Hale, who wrote before the marked im- 

 provement in the different breeds was made, says : 

 " The husbandman should be acquainted with the 

 several breeds, that he may suit his purchase to his 

 land. The larger kinds are bred where there is good 

 nourishment, and they require the same where they 

 are kept, or they will decline ; the poorer and smaller 

 kinds, which are used to hard fare, will thrive and 

 fatten upon moderate land. 



" The husbandman is to remember here what we 

 have said of trees : they never thrive if transplanted 



1 Columella, book vi., chap, i., p. 257, chap, ii., p. 304. 

 8 " Boke of Husbandry" (1532), p. 46. 



