stock breedixg industry. ii 



Some Factors Which Make for Success in the 

 Business of Breeding. 



In the preceding section we have seen that the pecuniary 

 rewards of success in the business of breeding animals are 

 generous. But it also appears clearly from the statistics that 

 the general average quality of the live stock on the farms of 

 this country is deplorably low, and the returns to the breeder 

 are correspondingly meager. \\"hat can be done to better this 

 condition of aftairs? Are there some obvious general prin- 

 ciples which are being systematically neglected by the rank 

 and file of the farmers? I believe that there are. Any farmer 

 has it within his power to do certain things which will surely 

 improve the quality of his stock, unless it is already of such 

 high quality that further improvement is virtually impossible. 

 And this last, we may be sure, is not a frequent condition of 

 affairs. What then are some of these principles which we are 

 neglecting? 



THE test of progeny PERFORMANCE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS. 



For the practical breeder of any kind of animals one of the 

 most significant results which has come from the modern scien- 

 tific study of genetics is the demonstration of the importance 

 of what I have elsewhere termed the principle of the progeny 

 test in breeding for performance. This principle may be stated 

 in the following way. The only certain and sure test of the 

 worth of an animal as a breeder is found in the actual per- 

 formance of that animal's progeny. The work of the last decade 

 in genetics has led to a new conception of the mechanism of 

 heredity which differs markedly from older views. The key- 

 note to this conception is that it is the germ cell {€:gg or sperm) 

 and not the body or soma which is the factor of primary impor- 

 tance in inheritance. W^hat the individual is like in respect 

 to its personal, somatic** characters is not determined by the 



"For the reader not familiar with the technical terminology of biolog>-, 

 it may be said that "somatic" is used in designation of those characters 

 of the organism which pertain to all parts except the reproductive or 

 germ-cells. These reproductive cells are called "gametes."' We then 

 have the adjective "gametic," meaning "pertaining to the germ cells," in 

 contrast to "somatic" meaning "pertaining to any or all parts of the.- 

 organism other than the germ cells." 



