PROBLEMS IN ANIMAL BREEDING 625 



of the offspring, killing the others for food. Thus man uncon- 

 sciously aided nature in producing a stronger and a better stock. 

 Later, he began to recognize certain characters that he wished 

 to have in horses, dogs, or cattle, and by slow processes of breeding 

 and of " crossing " or hybridizing one nearly allied form with 

 another, the numerous groups of domesticated animals began to 

 be developed. 



Some domesticated animalSc Our domesticated dogs are de- 

 scended from a number of wolf -like forms in various parts of the 

 world. All the present races of cats, on the other hand, seem to 

 be traced back to Egypt. Modern horses are first noted in Europe 

 and Asia, but far older forms flourished on the earth in earlier 

 geologic periods. It is interesting to note that America was the 

 original home of the horse, although at the time of the earliest ex- 

 plorers the horse was unknown here. The wild horse of the West- 

 ern plains has descended from horses introduced by the Spaniards. 

 The horse, which for some reason disappeared in this country, 

 continued to exist in Europe, and man, emerging from his early 

 savage condition, began to make use of the animal. We know the 

 horse was domesticated in early Biblical times, and that it was one 

 of man's most valued servants. In more recent times, man has be- 

 gun to change the horse by breeding for certain desired characters. 

 In this manner the various types of horses familiar to us as draft 

 horses, coach horses, hackneys, saddle horses, and trotters have 

 been established and improved. 



It is needless to say that all the various domesticated animals 

 have been tremendously changed by breeding since they were 

 brought under the control of civilized man. When we realize 

 there were in 1930 over 13,000,000 horses, over 57,000,000 cattle, 

 over 48,000,000 sheep, and about 52,000,000 swine on farms in this 

 country, representing a money value of over $5,000,000,000, we 

 see how very important a part the domestic animals play in our 

 lives. 



Present problems in animal breeding. In spite of the fact 

 that this vast amount of money is represented by our domesticated 

 animals, it could and should be much more. Crosses in fowls 

 have been obtained that produce as many as 300 eggs from one 



