392 PRINCIPLES OF STOCK-BREEDING. 



tion, in which good feeding qualities were associated 

 with more than average excellence for the purposes 

 of the dairy ; and there are many similar instances on 

 record. 



"Where a combination of the two qualities is the 

 object, one of them should be made the leading or 

 dominant character, by selections, with reference to 

 form, in accordance with the law of correlation ; while 

 the other or secondary quality is secured through the 

 influence of modified habits, that are ingrafted, as it 

 were, upon the typical characteristics of the leading 

 quality. For example, if the production of meat is 

 the leading object, selections should be made to secure 

 the form and proportions that experience has shown 

 to be the best adapted to that particular purpose; 

 while the abundant secretion of milk, which is the 

 secondary object, may be developed as a habit of the 

 system, notwithstanding the bias of the organization, 

 from peculiarities of form, to the production of flesh. 



A different typical form will be desirable when 

 milk is the leading object. But with it the feeding 

 quality may be developed to a considerable extent by 

 an abundant supply of feed, without detracting from 

 the value of the animal for the purposes of the dairy. 

 In both of these typical forms, in which the com- 

 bined qualities are developed, the energies of the sys- 

 tem may be largely devoted to the secretion of milk 

 during the period of lactation, and at other times to 

 the production of flesh, so that there is an alternation 

 in the exercise of the two functions that adds to their 

 efficiency, from the concentration of the powers of 

 assimilation upon a single function. 



