13 



It is desirable, as much as possible, to select breeders 

 from such animals as are exempt from the defects sought to 

 be eradicated, and possessed of diametrically opposite quali- 

 ties not to seek to correct one fault by another. 



The older the improvements obtained by selection, 

 i.e., the larger the number of generations in which they 

 have been shown, the more do they become distinctive signs 

 of the breed, and the more assuredly also are they transmitted 

 by reproduction. 



Breeds brought to perfection by selection maintain 

 the purity of their characters so long as the hygienic condi- 

 tions which produced their improvement are maintained ; if 

 deprived of these conditions, it may become needful to refresh 

 the blood by a reproduction from the origin of the race, pro- 

 vided, of course, that the source still possess the qualities 

 found to have deteriorated by changed hygienic circum- 

 stances. 



Hygiene (Preservation of Health) should always be 

 directed to aid the perfection sought to be obtained, as with- 

 out it success is more than doubtful. 



Inheritance that character by which strains are trans- 

 mitted may be used to follow up and disseminate an 

 improvement ; it may prove a help to the breeder, or it may 

 occur that he will have to combat it this last is always a 

 work of great difficulty. 



The age of the reproductive animals used has a marked 

 effect on the offspring, which is easily understood on taking 

 into account that, in young animals, the whole organization 

 is in course of structure, whilst in the old it is decaying ; 

 and that in neither case do the animals possess that heredi- 

 tary power which marks them at the adult age. It may be 

 desirable to make use of either young or old animals, accord- 

 ing to circumstances ; for instance, an old ram and an old 

 ewe will modify in their progeny the character of their own 

 fleeces at their adult age, and it often happens that an old 

 ram gives wool finer than that of animals of which he was 

 himself the father in the prime of life. 



The state of health of the animals has also great 

 influence on their progeny an indisputable fact, which does 

 not always receive sufficient consideration in breeding. It 

 is also well to bear in mind that it is not from the absence 

 of diseases alone that a perfect state of health results. The 

 constitutions of animals of the purest race imaginable, carried 

 into a centre other than that in which it was originally formed, 

 undergo very great modifications at first ; and during this 

 period of transformation (often invisible) it is impossible to 

 say absolutely that the animals are in good health. In order 

 to explain myself more clearly, I will suppose a struggle to 

 be going on between the determined character of the race in 

 question and the causes of change which exist in the place 



