Training and Breeding^ 187 



hitherto latent power, transmitted by one or more ances- 

 tors. Where tliere is little muscle there is little vigor 

 transmitted by any farm stock; and as muscle, if above the 

 minimum extent surely wastes from inactivity, the food- 

 value, which is nearly all supplied in the muscle, can 

 neither be increased nor maintained by breeding without 

 regular training or exercise. 



Inaction, by arresting motion in the muscles, arrests 

 the inflow of blood, causing the muscles to die* gradually 

 and waste away. The fact just stated is the reason of ex- 

 ercise being a necessity to develop or maintain muscular 

 structure, for food-value or for labor ; and the failure to 

 recognize this fact has led to very deteriorating results in 

 reducing the food-value of cattle and hogs, in many in- 

 stances, and in great degrees. 



The best breeding selects the most vigorous stock as the 

 basis of improving food-value ; and this depends both 

 upon the judgment of the breeder, and the extent of his 

 opportunities for selection, which are much wider when in- 

 breeding is not practiced. Inbreeding narrows the field 

 of choice, and the means of improving as much, even in 

 widely extended breeds; breeders of the same sort of 

 animals, whether sheep, swine, or cattle, usually pursuing 

 a nearly similar course with similar effects in their stock ; 

 the neglect of active training having long been a cause of 

 declining vigor, and reduced fertility in many inbred cat- 

 tle, while goitre in lambs is probably due to inactivity in 

 the ewes. Inbred cattle necessarily inherit the leading 

 defects of their family or breed, while cross-breeding 

 affords a very much wider field for selection of any quality 

 or form required to cure defects, or increase any good 

 points or qualities of growth. Cattle also generally be- 

 come less active from special feeding and other rauses, 



*Sec Foster's Physi., p. 05. 



