DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 11 



and speed, the cow for her muscles and milk, the 

 pig for its ''bacon," fowls for their eggs and 

 feathers, the dog for hunting and companionship, 

 the bee for its sweets, the canary for its song, and 

 the goldfish for its grace and beauty. 



Most domesticated animals have been greatly 

 changed, both in body and mind, during the period 

 of their domestication. These changes have 

 been made in order to fit the animals more per- 

 fectly to human needs. And these changes are 

 destined to continue to go on thru the ages 

 to come. The mammoth apple and potato have 

 come from wild ancestors so small and tasteless 

 that our luxurious palates would today regard 

 them with disdain. We wouldn't likely eat the 

 wild potato in the condition it was in when the 

 Indians began to cultivate it. We have too many 

 other things that are better. But the Indians ate 

 it because their sources of nourishment at that 

 time were very few. 



The great changes in domesticated animals 

 (and plants) have been brought about by Selec- 

 tion, that is, by the long and incessant choosing 

 of the more suitable for breeding purposes. Farm- 

 ers select the best corn and the largest potatoes 

 to be used for planting. And in the same way they 

 select for breeding purposes the sheep with the 

 longest and finest wool, and the best-laying hens. 

 The domestic chicken is a bird; and in the wild 

 state it lays a nestful of eggs in the spring and 

 hatches them, and then lays no more till the next 



