ESSAY. 

 PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING DAIRY STOCK. 



BY FRANCIS GULLIVER, ANDOVER. 



The milking herd of the dairy-farmer is his stock in trade, 

 and his aim is to get in this form the best machine for con- 

 verting herbage and other animal food into money. How then 

 shall the farmer increase the qualities wliich afford him his 

 profits, and how shall he maintain a high degree of excellence 

 when it is once secured ? 



In answer, a fundamental precept is this — nature through 

 the laws of heredity or breeding, and man's skill and perse- 

 verance, combine to secure the object and qualities we need. 

 That is, selection of parents and rearing of the young exerts 

 an over-mastering influence on the utility of the animals com- 

 posing our dairy herds. 



The experience of one person in search of success furnishes 

 but few points for comparison, and it is with the expectation, 

 not of furnishing new material, but of giving a systematic 

 statement of points already proved in the art of breeding that 

 this is written. 



The best years of men of genius, energy, and perseverance 

 have been given to the successful pursuit of this eminently 

 useful and fascinating art of breeding domestic animals. As 

 the result of their care and success, there are now established 

 permanent types in different improved breeds of remarkable 

 excellence, each differing from the other in the peculiar adap- 

 tation to special conditions and purposes. 



Governing success in this undertaking three laws are 

 prominent on first examination. 1st, The offspring may be of 

 corresponding quality with its parents, called laiv of similarity.; 

 or, 2d, They may vary from either and exhibit characteristics 

 superior or inferior, called the laiv of variation; or, Sd, The 



