134 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



and every species produces notliing but its own kind. Breeds 

 are the result of the interference of man with these creations of 

 God, in the manner wliich will suit his peculiar pursuits or 

 objects, and they are his work. Men have made breeds. They 

 are not God's creation, they are man's production; while 

 species man never made. We have found them in nature ; 

 we have subdued them, we have appropriated them to our pur- 

 poses ; they have been endowed with certain peculiarities which 

 are pliable, and they are capable of being impressed in various 

 ways by man — one species more than another — so that different 

 breeds, more or less different, can be obtained. 



Among dogs, which are more pliable, physically, than any 

 other of the domesticated animals, the breeds have a range 

 which is astonishing. Compare a bulldog with a greyhound, a 

 King Charles' spaniel with a mastiff, — what an extraordinary 

 difference ! There is no such difference among cattle or horses. 

 And why ? Because by nature this species was more pliable to 

 influences than others. Now man has to apply himself to that 

 pliability, and impress upon these animals those peculiarities 

 which are useful or desirable for him. 



Now, these specific differences and these breed differences are 

 of a different kind. A species transmits its characteristics 

 unmistakably and always, and the sum total of its specific char- 

 acter is transmitted. A breed, being the product of man, 

 transmits its peculiarities, its qualifications, only partially, and 

 only as long as those things which produce them or maintain 

 them are at work. Cease to take care of these animals in the 

 way in which the differences produced may be maintained, and 

 the breed itself runs out. You cannot perpetuate them without 

 taking at least care that those conditions which will maintain 

 the breed differences as they have been produced, are continued. 



Now, when you propagate animals, ther*e is a certain limita- 

 tion to the fecundity. Only individuals of the same species are 

 absolutely fertile with one another. Individuals of one species 

 witli individuals of another species have only a limited fertility. 

 You may be sure to see individuals of the same kind bring 

 forth individuals of that kind and no other; and these individ- 

 uals, you may be sure, will be capable of reproducing their kind 

 in turn, generation after generation. But cross individuals of 

 two different species with one another, and you at once obtain 



