38 ON BREEDING AND REARING ANIMALS. 



f alive in conservatories, that they are now en- 

 \ abled to flourish in the open air without artificial 

 / protection. And in corroboration of those con- 

 clusions, I annex the following extracts: that 

 of Mr. Mason, from Sir John Sinclair's Code 

 of Agriculture, and Mr. Robinson's, from the 

 Farmer's Journal, of April 15th, 1816. 



Answers by C. Mason, Esq. ofChilton, Durham, 

 to the question, whether the system of " Breed- 

 ing in and in" is advisable. 



To answer the question on the propriety or 

 / impropriety of adopting the system called Breed- 

 \ ing in and in, it seems only necessary to recur 

 to the acknowledged principles of breeding in 

 general. It is admitted that all breeding pro- 

 ceeds on the presumption, that the tendency of 

 / any individual animal is to transmit to its off- 

 \ spring, the form, constitution, and. qualities 

 which it possesses ; and as two animals are con- 

 cerned in the production of one offspring, that 

 one .is expected to inherit a form and constitution 

 compounded of the joint qualities of its pa- 

 I rents. Thus it is found in numerous breeds of 

 \ animals, as in deer, in the west Highland cattle, 

 /'in the north Devon, and in the wild cattle of 

 Chillingham Park, the offspring for an indefinite 



