24 cocker's' manual. 



but for strength of constitution the less the better. When our fowls 

 have been bred in-and-in too long they begin to be slower in their 

 motions, the hens dp not lay as well as before, and they moult later 

 and slower each season. 



"The question of in-breeding has never been settled by the uniform 

 custom of any considerable number of breeders. The practice in 

 England appears to be once in and once out, avoiding incest, while 

 the American practice leans to the practice of twice in and once out. 

 Some of the best English authorities have recommended the custom 

 that prevails in this country, though it is not reduced to anything like 

 uniformity among American breeders. By in-and-in breeding is un- 

 derstood to imply the union of near relatives, avoiding kindred of the 

 first degree. Long continued in-breeding would tend to diminish the 

 bone and reduce the dimensions of the muscular form and propor- 

 tions. It therefore becomes necessary to breed out to strangers, to 

 keep up size and bone. As soon as this end is accomplished, we can 

 breed back to kindred, and refine bone and muscle. By this simple 

 process of enlarging and refining, we get the most substance in the 

 least compass. 



"The wild horse, in promiscuous intercourse, avoids consanguinity, 

 or continued in-breeding in the highest degree, by the simple law of 

 nature. It is a wise provision, designed to perpetuate the race. The 

 strongest of the male species govern the .flock and perpetuate their 

 kind. The king of the harem soon gets displaced by some young, 

 courageous rival, who usurps the throne, and holds dominion through 

 his day and generation. He is succeeded by' some other rival, who 

 holds dominion over the flock till his successor becomes qualified, by 

 brute force, to displace him. We have here the system of in-breeding 

 and out crossing agreeable to the laws of nature. The deductions 

 from the wild horse, roving at large, are decidedly in favor of in- 

 breeding. It would be a natural conclusion from the common course 

 of things, that when we have the best possible form and action ma- 

 tured in the breed, not to lose half the benefit of superior excellence 

 by crossing out to strangers except to enlarge the reservoir to hold 

 more substance. We must keep all the improvement we have got, and 

 get all we can.'' 



