NATURAL BREEDING. 121 



a dead level. Man, when he applies one of Na- 

 ture's lessons, strives at once to eliminate all 

 but those factors and influences which are 

 above the average. Hence man's work tends 

 always to destroy the average and results in 

 raising it if intelligently applied, or lowering it 

 if unwisely exerted. Instead of concentrating 

 the mind on family lines the view becomes 

 world-wide, one analogy won from Nature's 

 laws being strictly followed up, namely, the 

 close continuance within the bounds of the 

 species or variety which we have chosen for 

 our field. 



Hence the great consideration is how to im- 

 prove the breed, and the individual being the 

 sole unit, how to improve the individual. The 

 only road to the general improvement of the 

 breed lies too plainly through special improve- 

 ment of the individual to deserve discussion. 

 Hence it is that "individual merit" may be 

 said to be the great watchword of this method 

 of natural breeding. We may therefore de- 

 fine natural breeding as that method which 

 aims to produce the best animals by careful 

 selection and interbreeding of the best obtain- 

 able animals. 



That this idea is far broader than anything 

 which can be defined as outcrossing or mixed 

 breeding must be obvious to everyone. We 

 shall see as we advance, however, in the dis- 



