Book II. IMPROVING THE BREED OF ANIMALS. SOI 



per selection of parents. Three theories have obtained notice on this subject ; the first 

 in favour of breeding from individuals of the same parentage, called the in-and-in system : 

 the second in favour of breeding from individuals of two different offsprings or varieties, 

 called the system of cross breeding ; and the third in favour of breeding from animals of 

 the same variety, but of different parentage, which may be called breeding in the line, or 

 in the same race. As is usual in such cases, none of these theories is exclusively cor- 

 rect, at least as far as respects agricultural improvement ; for, as it will afterwards appear, 

 the principles on which a selection for breeding so as to improve the carcass of the animal 

 depends, will lead occasionally to either mode. Breeding in the same line, however, is 

 the system at present adopted by what are considered the best breeders. 



2024. The size, form, and general properties of the inferior animals in a state of nature 

 may be always traced to the influence of soil and climate. Abundance of food, though 

 of a coarse quality, will produce an enlargement of size in an animal which has been 

 compelled to travel much for a scanty supply. Early maturity is also promoted by the 

 same abundance ; and if the food is of a better quality, and obtained without fatigue, a 

 tendency to fatten at an early age will be gradually superinduced, and combined with a 

 tameness and docility of temper, a general improvement of form, and a diminished 

 proportion of offal ; but at the same time such animals will not be capable of enduring 

 the fatigue and privations to which the less fortunate natives of the mountains of Scot- 

 land and Wales are habituated from their earliest age. 



2025. Hardiness of constitution is one of the most desirable properties of live stock, for 

 districts producing only a very scanty supply of food for winter. 



2026. A barren and mountainous surface and rigorous climate not only prohibit any considerable 

 improvement in the quantity and quality of its produce, but at the same time prescribe to the husbandman 

 the kind of stock which he must employ for consuming that produce. His cattle and sheep must be in a 

 great measure the creatures of his own mountains and of his own climate. He cannot avail himself of the 

 scientific principles which have so eminently improved the live stock of rich pastures. The most esteemed 

 breeds of England, instead of returning a greater quantity of meat for their food, could not subsist at all 

 upon the mountains of the north. The first object of the Highland farmer is to select animals that will 

 live and thrive upon his pastures. Of two breeds nearly equally hardy, he will no doubt prefer the cattle 

 that will give the most valuable carcass, and the sheep that will return the most money in wool and 

 carcass. He has seldom anv considerable extent of land which would fatten any breed ; and, if he had, 

 there is no market for it within his reach. With his live stock, as with his crops, he must be determined 

 by his situation ; and he would judge very ill, if he should lay aside his oats and big (native barley) for 

 the more valuable but precarious crops of wheat and barley. 



2027. Early maturity is a most valuable property in all sorts of live stock. With 

 regard to those animals which are fed for their carcasses, it is of peculiar importance that 

 they should become fat at an early age, because they not only sooner return the price of 

 their food with the profits of the feeder, but in general also a greater value for their 

 consumption than slow-feeding animals. A propensity to fatten at an early age is a sure 

 proof that an animal will fatten speedily at any after period of its life. 



2028. Tameness, and docility of temper are desirable properties in most of the domesti- 

 cated animals. These are also in some degree incompatible with the character of the 

 live stock of mountainous districts, merely because they are necessarily subjected to a 

 very slight degree of domestication, and must search for their food over a great extent of 

 country. When they are reared in more favourable situations, plentifully supplied with 

 food, and more frequently under the superintendence of man, their native wildness is in 

 a great measure subdued. The same treatment which induces early maturity will 

 gradually effect this change. 



2029. The quality ofthefesh, the proportion which the fine and coarse parts bear to each 

 other, and the weight of both to that of the offal, constitute the comparative value of two 

 animals of equal weight, destined to be the food of man. The first of these properties 

 seems to be determined by the breed and food ; the second by the form and proportions 

 of the animal ; and the third by all these and its degree of fatness. The flesh of well- 

 formed small animals, both of cattle and sheep, is well known to be finer grained, of a 

 belter flavour, more intermixed with fat, and to afford a richer gravy than that of large 

 animals, and it brings a higher price accordingly in all the principal markets of the 

 island. 



2030. The desirable properties of animals are different, according to the purposes to 

 which they are applied. The principal productions of live stock are meat, milk, labour, 

 and wool. A breed of cattle equally well adapted to the butcher, the dairy-maid, and 

 the plough or cart, is nowhere to be found. So far as experience enables us to judge, 

 these properties appear to be inconsistent with one another, and to belong to animals of 

 different forms and proportions It must be evident, that a description of a well formed 

 animal for fattening will not apply to any of the different varieties of horses. And witli 

 regard to sheep, there is reason to suspect that very fine wool cannot be produced by 

 such as have the greatest propensity to fatten, and will return the most meat for the food 

 they consume. 



2031. The chief object of most breeders of cattle and sheep is their carcass. If a demand 

 for dairy produce, for the labour of oxen, or for fine wool, should hereafter make it his 



