130 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the qualifications of which, during their lifetime, Irave been 

 known, and when such animals die, I wish that gentlemen inter- 

 ested in having these things recorded, would have the kindness 

 to let me have the carcase, especially where the death is acci- 

 dental, because then, when the animal was in full vigor, it will be 

 possible to weigh it, and ascertain its total weight, and then go 

 on to an analyzation, by which it can be ascertained how much 

 the skeleton enters into the weight, how much the flesh, how 

 much the skin, and how much every part, so that we may know, 

 after a number of such experiments, whether there is, in the 

 development of certain portions of the system, a leading influ- 

 ence in producing those qualities which we require. As long 

 as we speak generally, we have no means of ascertaining in what 

 direction our efibrts in breeding or raising cattle must go, in 

 order to secure the animals which we want. 



Now, with reference to breeding. In breeding, we must 

 remember that every animal has a number of elements in it by 

 which it may be distinguished from every other animal. All 

 the individuals belonging to one kind of cattle, all cows and 

 bulls put together, with their calves, or the whole race of cattle, 

 for instance, have certain properties which distinguish them 

 from the horse, the donkey, the sheep. Now, the primary 

 peculiarity of all animals is that they transmit, generation after 

 generation, that sum total of qualities. Inheritance or trans- 

 mission of qualities is the primary feature of all animals ; and 

 this transmission consists not only in transferring, generation 

 after generation, the general qualities of the whole race, but in 

 a difference which is fundamental. There is always a certain 

 proportion of male and female. Whatever be the qualifications 

 or the peculiarities of the kind of animal, there is that primary 

 difference at once established ; there are so many males and so 

 many females of each kind born, by which the process of repro- 

 duction is maintained. That is one of the primary laws of 

 organization, and that essential difference extends throughout 

 the whole animal kingdom and throughout the whole vegetable 

 kingdom. There is that essential, primary difference between 

 one set of individuals and another set, — that one certain ratio is 

 male and the other is female ; and these two elements combined 

 constitute the means of the transmission of those qualities 

 which are common to them all as a whole. You must, there- 



