THE AQUIGV LTURAL JOURNAL. 



591 



Not Practical in all Circum- 

 stances. 



It is not possible to practise iu-breeding 

 successfu.ly under all circumstances, it 

 would be great folly to iu-breed birds 

 whose constitutions were defective in any 

 particular whatever, and it would i)e a 

 great waste of time to in-breed birds 

 which had any marked external fault. 

 For we must remember that although in- 

 breeding when judiciously used can be 

 made to intensify all the good points of a 

 fowl, it also intensifies all the bad ones, 

 too. If a hen is of sound constitution, is 

 a very good specimen of her breed, with 

 no very marked fault about her, she may 

 be safely mated with a related male 

 equally sound, and especially if he has 

 points which counterbalance any little 

 external faults she has, and vice vei sd ; 

 for we must remember there is nothing 

 absolutely perfect in any domain of stock- 

 breeding. From such a mating strong, 

 vigorous birds will result, some of them 

 probably better than their parents, and 

 most of them very typical of their breed, 

 just such a flock as the fancier loves to 

 possess. Particularly in well-established 

 breeds will this be the case, although we 

 must look for something not quite so 

 good in the later introductions which have 

 not yet had time to settle into a fixed 

 type. Without in-breeding the propaga- 

 tion of new breeds is hopeless, with its 

 aid the work is uphill for a long time, but 

 every year bringing the marks of a new 

 race into bolder prominence, until the 

 general type stands out clear and distinct, 

 and capable of reproducing itself for all 

 future time. 



Even in breeds which have been estab- 

 lished for forty years or more the union 

 of totally unrelated birds often produces 

 in the first season almost worthless off- 

 spring from a standard point of view. 

 But if the best of such progeny is mated 

 back again to the parents, the pullets to 

 the sire and a cockerel to the old hens, 

 the difference is at once surprising. A 

 large proportion of the progeny from 

 either of these matings is most satisfac- 

 tory, and if the same thing is continued 

 for another season, or for another two for 

 the matter of that, still better results are 

 obtained. 



How FAR CAN IT BE PRACTISED ? 

 How far can in-breeding be safely prac- 

 tised with stock of originally sound con- 



stitution ? We doubt if anyone living 

 can answer that question. For ourselves, 

 and chiefly as an experiment, we carried 

 it on without a single break, and from 

 very close relations, for five years, and at 

 the end of that time our stock was as 

 large, as healthy, as fertile, and as prolific 

 as they were the first season. We then 

 dispersed the breed on which we tested it 

 thus far, although on other breeds we 

 have often practised it, although never for 

 so long a period without a break. We do 

 not for a moment advocate the breecling 

 of close relations for such a period with- 

 out the introduction of a single drop of 

 fresh blood ; we repeat, we deliberately 

 did it as aii experiment, in order to prac- 

 tically test the outcome of prolonged in- 

 breeding on the progeny of a well-selected 

 pair of healthy birds. 



Probably there are few, if any, fanciers 

 of note who do not owe their success 

 very largely to a system of scientific in- 

 breeding. One well-known judge once 

 told us that so-and-so (a prominent 

 breeder of modern Game fowls) had 

 casually mentioned to him that he was 

 thinking of introducing a little fresh 

 blood the following season into his strain, 

 " as he had not done so for the previous 

 seven years." His strain was almost world 

 famous. 



Long ago, when cockfighting was a legal 

 sport, many strains were so carefully 

 guarded, and the dread of deterioration 

 from alien blood was so great, that some 

 remained uncrossed for over twenty yeai-s. 



In other Realms op Nature 



the closest in-breeding prevails. Among 

 freshwater fish it is universal ; birds of 

 almost every species, the wild deer, game 

 of all kinds, the wild horses of the plains 

 of South America, and we have no doubt 

 hordes of savage animals, all live under 

 this law. Finally, we must all admit that 

 the abominable rodent known as the rat 

 is a most prolific animal. We doubt if in 

 all creation there is any animal which 

 lives and breeds so incestuously as the 

 rat. If in-breeding was an unmitigated 

 evil, it would soon disappear off the face 

 of the earth, but we all know whether it 

 is likely to do that or not. 



Again, all our best strains of cattle, 

 horses, sheep, and dogs have been brought 

 to a high pitch of excellency by a judi- 

 cious system of in-breeding. 



