4 
Breeding of Farm-Stock. 
prosperity. There are three speeial olrjccts which the general 
breeder seeks to attain with a view to direct profit, each of which 
requires a special mode of procedure which cannot be departed 
from without loss. These qualifications are — 
A liberal production of good milk ; 
An economical formation of meat ; 
And the preservation of purity of blood. 
I shall endeavour to prove that we have these important 
points of character far more under our control than is generally 
imagined, and that from want of due consideration we often 
frustrate and impede our designs. 
Production of Milk. 
The milking character of our various kinds of stock takes a 
wide range even amongst females of the same class. Apart 
from the influence of food, we may remark that the quantity of 
milk secreted depends upon the supply of blood which the mam- 
mary glands receive as well as upon their activity, whilst its 
quality is mainly dependent upon the internal organism of the 
animal. We find, as a rule, that those domesticated animals 
which exist under circumstances most nearly approaching to a 
state of nature possess the greatest tendency to produce milk. 
The formation of milk is a provision of nature to supply food for 
the young offspring ; it precedes the birth of the young animal, 
and is generally most abundant in those animals which breed 
most freely. If, however, by domestication we produce an 
animal possessing peculiar qualities which differ from the natural 
character of the dam in its wild condition, then the powers of 
reproduction are decreased and the energy of the system is also 
reduced for the formation of its accompanying product, milk. 
Although these two points of character — viz. a disposition to 
breed and an aptitude for the secretion of milk — usually increase 
and diminish similarly, yet there are good reasons for believing 
that, like other functions of the animal organism, we may ma- 
terially increase the formation of milk even when the breeding- 
powers are naturally weak. In producing animals which differ 
materially frorii the type of the animal in its wild condition, we 
find that natural barriers present limits beyond which we cannot 
pass, and consequently by degrees We approximate to instances 
of barrenness in the offspring. To meet this difficulty Ave have 
to adopt measures for giving increased vigour to the system, or, 
as we commonly term it, to strengthen the constitution of the 
animal ; but what are the measures adopted for this purpose 
other than allowing the natural habits of the animal to exert 
