84 CATTLE-BREEDING. 



the difference between six and a half a dozen. 

 The existence and operation of the same laws 

 are recognized in both cases. The fact that 

 one man formulates, after a thorough analysis, 

 the end and the means to reach it, while the 

 other merely acts on the rules of his experi- 

 ence, which were no less real though never dis- 

 tinctly recognized except in a very general 

 way, does not have the least significance. We 

 shall see presently that the very first practical 

 question presented to the breeder involves a 

 knowledge of these laws of procreation. It is 

 possible, of course, to breed cattle in a hap- 

 hazard, unregulated way, taking little or no 

 thought for the morrow and letting the present 

 take care of itself. With such methods we 

 have nothing to do. My effort is to address to 

 the practical, wide-awake American farmer a 

 treatise which will give him the light of years 

 of -study and experience, and to do what I can 

 to encourage intelligent and well-considered 

 habits of breeding. 



