ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 93 



an individual that not only produces enough milk to rear her 

 young", but also provides bountifully to the support of the human 

 family. In this wonderful transformation, from the supporting 

 of nnc to the supplying- of many, her form has undergone a 

 preceptible change, and her increased milk flow is not due 

 entirely to her comparatively quiet life and to a better system 

 of feeding. If this were all the beef cow would produce milk 

 and butter in quantities equal to that of the dairy animal. It is 

 a well known fact that, many of the so-called highly developed 

 beef animals do not give enough milk to raise properly their 

 young, yet, they are given not only all the comforts that it is 

 possible for man to give to any beast, but they are given the best 

 ration that can be compounded by the most skillful feeder. 



It would seem, then, that the milk giving proclivities of the 

 dairy cow must be due to something more than simply feed and 

 good care. There is still back of these two important factors 

 a great fundamental truth which seems to largely determine the 

 usefulness of all animals, and that is, selection for a particular 

 thing. Darwin says : " Changed habit produces an inherited 

 effect, as in the period of the flowering plants, when transported 

 from one climate to another. With animals the increased use 

 or disuse of parts has had a more marked influence ; thus I find 

 in the domestic duck, that the bones of the wing weigh less and 

 the bones of the leg more, in proportion to the whole skeleton, 

 than do the same bones in the wild duck; and this change may 

 be safely attributed to the domestic duck flying much less and 

 walking more than the wild parents. The great and inherited 

 development of the udders in cows and goats in countries where 

 they are habitually milked, in comparison with these organs in 

 other countries where they are not milked, is probably another 

 instance of the effects of use." From this it is plain that use and 

 selection are important factors in the development of animal life. 

 In the beginning* there was undoubtedly an unconscious selection 

 of animals and not with any preconceived notion of type. The 

 farmer unconsciously, perhaps, selected calves from mothers 

 who he thought were the best milkers, thereby propogating the 



