SEALS SHOULD BE BRANDED. 331 



herd. This fact once known, it then becomes equally important to see that the proper 

 number of young males are reserved for the replenishment of the breeding stock. 

 Under present conditions the matter of securing this reserve is left more or less to 

 chance. There is no evidence that the 3- year-old which is allowed to escape from one 

 drive will not be taken in the next. 



It is more than probable that the reserves are at present suflciently supplied 

 from those hauling grounds which, through inaccessibility or from other cause, it is 

 difiQcult to reach. But this still leaves the matter to chance. In the future manage- 

 ment of the herd it ought to be possible to reach and utilize these hauling grounds. 

 With the full product of the herd under control, it should be the business of those 

 having it in charge to choose out, brand, and so reserve for all time those males which 

 are to be set apart as breeders. Whether this branding should be done when the 

 males are pups or at the age of 1 year or at the age of 3 are matters of detail which 

 must be worked out in practical experience. What we wish to point out now is the 

 fact that branding can be and should be thus employed to make certain that the 

 proper reserve of males is left. 



