62 INFLUENCE OF MALE AND FEMALE. 



most frequently takes after the male parent, especially, 

 it is thought, in exterior form, in its organs of locomo- 

 tion, such as the bones, the muscles, &c. Particularly 

 is this the case when the male belongs to an old and 

 well-established breed, and the female belongs to no 

 known breed, and has no strongly-marked and fixed 

 points. Put a Galloway bull, for instance, to a native 

 cow, and the calf will, as a general rule, be hornless. 

 Put a ram without horns to ewes with horns, and most 

 of the lambs will be destitute of horns ; that is, they 

 take the characteristics of the father rather than the 

 dam ; and this rule holds good generally in breeding, 

 though, like all other rules, it has, of course, its excep- 

 tions. Hence, if this position be correct, the first 

 principle which the good sense of the farmer would 

 dictate would be to select a bull from a breed most 

 noted for the qualities he wishes to obtain in their 

 greatest perfection, and especially if the cow is defi- 

 cient in those qualities. A bull, for instance, of fine 

 bone, and other good points in perfection, will make 

 up for the deficiency of some of these points in the 

 cow. 



On the other hand, say the advocates of this doctrine, 

 in the physiology of breeding the internal structure 

 of the offspring, the organs of secretion, the mucous 

 membranes, the respiratory organs, &c, are imparted 

 chiefly by the dam. Hence it has sometimes been 

 found that by taking a cow remarkable for milking 

 properties, though deficient in many other points, as in 

 the coarseness of bone and in early maturity, and put- 

 ting to her a bull remarkable for symmetry of form and 

 fineness of bone, the offspring has been superior to the 

 cow in beauty of form and proportions, and has still 

 retained the milking qualities of the dam. This prin- 

 ciple, as alread} T intimated, is questioned by some, svho 



