PREFACE. 



A very large proportion of the matter contained in 

 this volume was prepared for publication several years 

 ago when I had more leisure to study and write upon 

 the topics herein considered, and when I was fresher 

 from the field of practical experience than now. Much 

 of it has since been printed in fragments at various 

 times, some of it in the form of editorial articles for the 

 monthly journal that was so long under my manage- 

 ment, some in essays or addresses at meetings and con- 

 ventions of breeders of live stock, and still other portions 

 of it in the weekly stock-breeders' paper that for more 

 than three years past has occupied my almost constant 

 attention. A little more than four years ago I thought 

 myself about ready to gather up the fragments that were 

 already prepared and give them to the public in book 

 form; but other and more pressing duties intervened, 

 and it is only within a few months past, having been re- 

 lieved from official duties that had for three years 

 claimed all the time that I could possibly spare from 

 the management of The Breeders Gazette, that I have 

 found leisure to look over and arrange the matter which 

 has been gradually accumulating for so long a period. 

 I give it now to the public, realizing that, in common 

 with all human effort, it must needs be far from perfect, 

 but with a feeling of satisfaction in knowing that the 

 work has at least been conscientiously done; and that 



