130 INTRODUCTION OF D()MP:STIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 

 IMPROVING THE BREED. 



It appears to the writer that much could be ch)ne in the way of 

 improving the size and strength of the animal, and therefore its use- 

 fulness, by breeding them up. The laws of breeding which hold 

 sway in the development of cattle, sheep, and hogs, must likewise 

 be applicable in the breeding of reindeer. As has been noted, many 

 of the wild deer are larger than the domesticated, probably because 

 in the former case nature has applied her laws of the survival of the 

 fittest, and the strongest males of the herd, as a rule, have become 

 the sires of the herd. Under domestication these laws could be 

 applied to even better advantage and doubtless with good results. 



The abortion of the antlers, which under domestication are not 

 only utterly useless, but a decided disadvantage to the animal, 

 is another line in which exi)eriment might be tried with interesting 

 results. 



REINDEER AND AGRICULTURE INCOMPATIBLE. 



The zone of the usefulness of the reindeer lies wholly outside that 

 in which agriculture is possible. It lives chiefly on the lichen and 

 herbage indigenous to the region where no agricultural plants will 

 grow. It will not thrive in the warmer regions where agriculture is 

 practicable, and it can not live on the kind of forage which we feed 

 to cattle and horses. Wherever the ground can be cultivated its 

 place will be taken by the horse and ox. But it is by far the most 

 useful animal for the region north of the agricultural belt. It is 

 the means of transmuting a vast amount of vegetation into meat 

 and skins necessary to the support of the Eskimos. 



