SCIENCE AND ART OF FEEDING. 133 



proving our domestic animals, it seems that such a view is 

 wholly untenable, and quite opposed by the practice and re- 

 sults of breeding. It is unreasonable as well, for if the breed- 

 ers' axiom like produces like is true and well founded, 

 then we must first make the parent what we wish, as far 

 as we can by stimulating the ability to turn good food Into 

 growth, and then by breeding from these improved feeders 

 get a progeny upon which we may be able to improve still 

 further in this direction. Were it otherwise, we should have 

 no starting point to breed from for the improvement of the 

 flocks, and it has been shown in the previous chapter that 

 the art and science of breeding are both founded, as on the 

 most unmistakable and the most solid basis of perpetuating 

 by breeding, those animals together, one of whom at least, 

 but both if possible, have previously undergone a process of 

 improvement by feeding, and the best feeders have been 

 invariably chosen by the most successful masters of the art, 

 as the means of fixing on the progeny their habit and procliv- 

 ity of turning the most food possible into growth of carcass 

 of the best form, and into a fleece of the most valuable wool. 

 If the art of feeding does not come before, and as a prelimi- 

 nary to that of breeding, all knowledge and experience go for 

 nothing. 



Feeding is the main business of the mutton, producer. 

 But as has been shown, that the wool is a mere outgrowth 

 of the flesh and skin, partaking as closely as may be of the 

 character and substance of the flesh, we cannot improve the 

 flesh of a sheep without at the same time improving the 

 fleece. These go together. But so far the art of the feeder 

 has been employed in the development of a fine carcass of 

 the best meat, yet at the same time the fleece has been 

 improved in length and quality of staple. Every expert 

 knows, and every shepherd should know, that wool is seri- 

 ously damaged by poor feeding; every set back of the sheep 

 is marked by a weak spot in the fleece in which the fiber 

 breaks, and the wool is fit only for the cheapest kinds of 

 products. The growth is also arrested, and as an example of 

 the need for good feeding for a good fleece, it may be shown 

 that as soon as the sheep is shorn, and the new growth of the 

 fleece calls for adequate nutriment, the appetite of a sheep is 

 notably increased, and if it is not duly supplied with the 



