12 CATTLE-BREEDING. 



The stock-breeder has something more to do 

 than merely to effect the coupling of one ani- 

 mal with another. To rightly fulfill the func- 

 tion of his calling he must so mate animal with 

 animal as to produce the best possible results, 

 generation by generation, in an ever-ascending 

 proportion. To him are entrusted living organ- 

 isms from which he is to produce, according to 

 the natural laws of propagation, other similar 

 organisms, and of such a character as shall 

 conserve every good quality and as far as pos- 

 sible replace every bad quality with a good, or 

 at least a better. These organisms are there- 

 fore plastic. The secret of their plasticity is 

 not known to every one, and to those to whom 

 it is known it is still a mystery, or at best a 

 half -read riddle. In just the ratio of the insight 

 that this man or that has into this secret of 

 Nature will he become a successful breeder. 

 This insight, in fine, is knowledge, and like 

 all other knowledge it is power, and he that 

 would possess it must seek for it as for hid 

 treasure. 



There may have been a time when men were 

 ignorant of the value of this branch of knowl- 

 edge; but if so it was beyond the first faint 

 dawn of human history. The earliest written 

 records of the race show that certain breeds of 

 horses were already specially esteemed, and that 

 the dog had been greatly specialized to meet 



