856 IMPROVEMENT AND FEEDING 



fluence on him, and his on them, have meant the progress of 

 both. Just when this association was first formed, no one 

 knows. Primitive man left scant records of his doings; 

 and so it is only natural that mystery surrounds the early 

 development of our farm animals. 



We do know, however, that our common stock was once 

 wild, and that man domesticated it. He needed the labor 

 of the horse, and at times, the meat ; and the milk, flesh, 

 and hides of the cow ; the wool and mutton of the sheep ; 

 the eggs and meat of the hen ; and the manure of all such 

 animals to be spread on the land. 



261. How Stock is Improved. In their wild state, all our 

 farm animals were very inferior to the varieties that we 

 know to-day. The horses lacked speed and draft. The 

 cows furnished enough milk only to supply the needs of 

 their young. Little lard grew on the sides of the swine. 

 The jungle fowl laid no more eggs than were necessary to 

 keep up the numbers of her offspring. And the wool of 

 the sheep was scant and poor in quality. 



Just as man improved wild plants into plants of much 

 higher usefulness to him, so, too, he improved wild animals. 

 The two greater natural forces with which he worked 

 were heredity and variation. These forces we have dis- 

 cussed in Chapter XIV. To-day man understands better 

 how to use these forces than his ancestors did, and recent 

 progress in live-stock improvement has been exceedingly 

 rapid. 



Heredity helps the farmer to keep up his standard : 

 variation gives him a chance to improve his standard. 

 The average hen in farm flocks lays about 135 eggs 

 a year. In almost every flock, however, some hens lay 

 more than that. One or two in a common flock may 

 lay 200 eggs. If the farmer can find out which these are 

 (a matter that calls for some time and trouble), and then 



