Essentials of Animal Breeding. 



35 



suiting in young which have the longitudinal stripes characteristic 

 of the young wild boar. 



MATERNAL IMPRESSIONS. 



A famous ancient classic is the bargain which Jacob made with 

 his father-in-law Laban, and since its historic consummation some 

 breeders of cattle have believed that the presence of objects of strik- 

 ing form or color before the eyes of the female at the time of con- 

 ception have an influence on the characteristics of the progeny. So 

 far as the Biblical case is concerned, the writer's impression is that 

 Laban was not so skilled in the animal husbandry of his day as was 



Purebred Duroc-Jersey boar. 



FIG. 30. Quick results can be obtained by using such, males on native sows, or an 

 investment may be made in one or two purebred sows, from which an entire herd of 

 purebreds is soon at hand. 



his crafty son-in-law, and judging by Avhat we know to-day of the 

 livestock of Palestine, it would have been far more remarkable if a 

 large proportion of the calves had not been speckled and spotted. 8 

 A much more modern case is that of McCombie, of Tilly four, one of 

 the early Scotch improvers of Aberdeen- Angus cattle, who is reported 

 to have believed that he could increase the proportion of black cattle 

 in his herd by having his barns and fences painted black. The red 

 color was comparatively common among Angus cattle a hundred 

 years ago, and breeders were constantly culling out that color. From 

 what we now .know of the action of the chromosomes, it was selection 

 and not the color of McCombie's barns that made the Angus cattle 

 "black and all black." Even to-day an occasional red Angus calf 

 appears, as we would expect to happen according to the Mendelian 



8 See Genesis xxx : 25-43. 



