HEREDITY THE BREEDER'S CORNER- 

 STONE. 



THE great fundamental proposition in all 

 questions of breeding is that "like produces 

 like." On this basis, whether formulated in 

 words or not, men have built from time imme- 

 morial. This fact forces itself on the human 

 mind, must have forced itself on the mind of 

 our first ancestors, as the normal condition of 

 natural production. Every animal under ordi- 

 nary conditions brings forth "after its own 

 kind." This law runs through all Nature. "Do 

 men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of this- 

 tles?" asked the Lord of his disciples, recogniz- 

 ing this law in the vegetable kingdom! 



Had there never been any reason to believe 

 that this great general law had some excep- 

 tions to its universal application it would prob- 

 ably have never been given any particular at- 

 tention, and would have been passed over as 

 too obvious to deserve more than a passing as- 

 sertion unsupported by proofs and unillustrated 

 by examples. It has become important, how- 

 ever, since the enunciation and development of 

 the theory of variation, to bring out the normal 



(23) 



