722 
BREEDING OF FARM STOCK. 
the power of hereditary transmission being so much greater 
in the sire than this offspring (in proportion of 100 to 
40), the former would be far more valuable as a breeding 
animal, although the difference in the capabilities of the two 
would be entirely hidden or latent. If you breed from 
animals possessing a similarity of type, the offspring will 
possess the same character, but with a greater power for the 
hereditary transmission of this character. On the other 
hand, animals having opposite characters mutually weaken 
each other’s influence, and the offspring only possess the 
power of hereditary transmission in a reduced degree. 
This power of perpetuating character is not confined to 
any one quality, but it extends to every peculiarity of the 
animal, whether it be similarity of feature, configuration of 
the body, general habit of growth, disposition for fattening, 
the formation of milk, healthy constitution, predisposition 
to disease, temperament—all are alike hereditary, and are 
modified in their transmission by the mutual influence of the 
parents. It would appear as if every individual point of 
character were thus controlled and balanced according to 
the respective tendencies of the parents, and that the re¬ 
sultant character represented a series of balances, sometimes 
in favour of the male, at other times in favour of the female. 
The dam might succeed in communicating the general form 
to the body, but be unable to overcome the stronger power 
of the male over some certain portion of the body. The 
dam might be naturally deficient, for instance, in her hind¬ 
quarters, and good in other parts, and under the influence of 
a sire having a powerful tendency to produce a good hind- 
quarter she may be compelled to yield to his superior in¬ 
fluence. In certain points of character where they cor¬ 
responded, the influence would be increased. In some 
particulars the dam might predominate, and in other res¬ 
pects the sire might be most influential. Thus the here¬ 
ditary powers of carefully bred stock will represent the 
maximum of good influences and a minimum of those which 
are undesirable. 
In our wild animals we have natural laws operating 
whereby they are preserved from degeneracy. Thus their 
powers of vitality are preserved and constitutional disease 
reduced to its lowest point. Immediately the male has 
passed the prime of life and his natural vigour begins to di¬ 
minish, he ceases to hold his position against younger males 
of more strength. Thus in the sanguinary conflicts amongst 
the male animals of wild species, in which the supremacy is 
contested, we see one means established by Nature for se- 
