SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS IN FEEDING. 195 



fed, the results need no further remark than that the con- 

 dition of the lambs is an important element to be consid- 

 ered. 



INFLUENCE OF BREEDING ON THE FEEDING. 



From what has been said on the subject of breeding, 

 in a previous chapter, it will be easily gathered, that as 

 the feeding is one of the most important elements of im- 

 provement of all animals through the perpetuation by breed- 

 ing of the advantages gained by skillful feeding, feeding 

 really comes first. The improvement of animals by feeding, 

 of course, and necessarily must come first; for if like 

 produces like, the breeding can only perpetuate the elements 

 already existing. The skillful breeder selects the best speci- 

 mens he is able to secure, and by coupling these he obtains 

 a progeny like the parents, and having the inherited ability 

 to be still further improved by a still further aptitude to 

 feed and digest food, and thus not only fix what has been 

 gained and make it a permanent inheritance, but perpetuate 

 the disposition to feed and turn the food to the best use. 

 The talk of the old breeders, as it is of the modern ones, 

 \vas always of the feeding ability of their stock, whether it 

 were cattle or sheep. And as we inherit the results of a 

 century of good feeding, we must still maint in the condi- 

 tion of our stock by the same means as it has been originally 

 gained. 



Hence when we discuss the influence of breeding on the 

 feeding quality of lambs we are simply gathering the ex- 

 pected fruits of the inherited ability of the lambs to hold the 

 position which they derived from their parents. And what- 

 ever facts are derived from the results of experiments made 

 in this line, we may take as a foregone conclusion that 

 may be applied to encourage the constant improvement of 

 the flocks by higher breeding, for the sake of the profit this 

 insures, when we come to feed these improved sheep. 



The experiment here to be described was made by the 

 Wisconsin Station as a sort of final test of the influence of 

 -good breeding on profitable feeding. A lot of the station 

 lambs were selected and fed in comparison with a lot of 

 common lambs procured from the northern part of the state. 

 They w r ere of the common stock, bred promiscuously, and 



