104 



But jour success depends to some extent still on circum- 

 stances within your direction. 



1st. Let the females be of such a type as to " hit off" well 

 with your selected male and develop similar qualities, since 

 this would apply the law that a characteristic prominent in 

 both male and female parent will be concentrated in the 

 young. Secure this harmonious character by judicious pur- 

 chase or exchange if possible, for contrast of character pro- 

 duces disappointment. 



2d. The male should have prepotency or governing influ- 

 ence, — that is the ability of a sire to repioduce his likeness in 

 his offspring, or the original power of influence. 



This you must look for in "•high blood," and that is hand in 

 hand with purity of pedigree. 



3d. Uniform excellence of ancestors should be sought, 

 since the quality of offspring is largely governed by the long 

 and successful transmission of peculiar qualifications from 

 progenitors one to another: in other words, by a concentration 

 of fixed qualities through continued descent from those possess- 

 ing high qualities. 



And here the dairy farmer is exactly on the same ground as 

 the breeder of thoroughbred stock. Each must use the b°st 

 obtainable sire for propagation. This is the mode of improv- 

 ing such stock as needs improvement, and the only means by 

 which stock already good can be preserved in its excellence. 



Other points of importance space will not permit me to dis- 

 cuss here at length, such as fixing the heifer's habit of full and 

 continuous flow of milk; the importance of having the heifer 

 first come in calf, to the best bull obtainable; efforts to control 

 the sex of expected offspring ; the time of year for most profit- 

 able calving; relative influence of parents, blood being equal ; 

 hereditary disease ; defective nutrition the cause of disease ; 

 stabling, care, feed ; overtaxing of young bulls and killing of 

 old ones just when their produce can prove their value ; the 

 delusive and ruinous practice of breeding for the color of the 

 animal rather than useful qualities. 



