SELECTION. 387 



out of a rich into a poor soil : the same holds good 

 of cattle. 



" The husbandman should have one of these con- 

 siderations in view in stocking his land, the using 

 them principally for breed, for milk, or for work; 

 and according as either of these is his principal aim 

 he is to make his purchase, one breed being fitter for 

 one of these uses, another for another. 



" He must also consider the richness of his past- 

 ures, that he may suit the breed to that also." ' 



The experience of a Lammermuir sheep-master, as 

 quoted by Mr. Youatt, furnishes a good illustration 

 of the loss involved from lack of attention to the 

 principle under discussion. He says : " I occupied a 

 farm that had been rented by our family for nearly 

 half a century. 



" On entering it, the Cheviot stock was the object 

 of our choice, and, so long as we continued in posses- 

 sion of this breed, everything proceeded with consid- 

 erable success ; but the Dishley sheep came into fash- 

 ion, and we, influenced by the general mania, cleared 

 our farm of the Cheviots, and procured the favorite 

 stock. Our coarse, lean pastures, however, were un- 

 equal to the task of supporting such heavy-bodied 



1 "A Compleat Body of Husbandry" (4 vols.), second edition, 1758, 

 vol. ii., p. 28. 



Donaldson, in his "Agricultural Biography," says: "This work 

 was advertised by John Bell, of Edinburgh .... but no other notice 

 of the book can be found. . . . The 'Bibliotheca Britannica' does 

 not contain a book of that title among the works of that author. The 

 libraries of the British Museum do not possess any book of that title, 

 and Loudon's catalogue mentions no author of that name." The quo- 

 tation in the text is made from a copy of the work in my library. 



