Chapter II. 
THOROUGHBRED, OR BRED TO A PURPOSE. THE LEADING PRACTICAL BREEDS. 
W hat is a thoroughbred? Webster’s 
International Dictionary gives this 
definition: “Bred from the best 
blood through a long line; pure 
blooded,” and the Century Dictionary gives the 
definition: “Of pure or unmixed blood, stock 
or race; bred from a sire and dam of the purest 
or best blood.” A well-known judge and author¬ 
ity on breeding thoroughbred fowls states that 
they are thoroughbreds which have been bred 
to type a sufficient length of time, so that a 
majority of the progeny is true to type; or, in 
other words, when mated they reproduce their 
kind. 
In the introduction to Darwin’s “Animals 
and Plants Under Domestication,” we find: 
“Although man does not cause variability, 
and cannot even prevent it, he can select, pre¬ 
serve and accumulate the variations given to him 
by the hand of nature almost in any way which 
he chooses; and thus he can certainly produce 
a great result. Selection may be followed either 
methodically and intentionally, or unconsciously 
and unintentionally. Man may select and pre¬ 
serve each successive variation, with the distinct 
intention of improving and altering a breed, in 
accordance with a preconceived idea; and by 
thus adding up variations, often so slight as to 
be imperceptible by an uneducated eye, he has 
affected wonderful changes and improvements. 
It can, also, be clearly shown that man, without 
any intention or thought of improving the breed, 
by preserving in each successive generation the 
individuals which he prizes most, and by de- 
: stroying the worthless individuals,slowly,though 
surely, induces great changes. As the will of 
man comes into play, we can understand how 
it is that domesticated breeds show adaptation 
to his wants and pleasures. We can further un¬ 
derstand how it is that domestic races of animals 
and cultivated races of plants often exhibit an 
abnormal character, as compared with natural 
species; for they have been modified not for 
their own benefit, but for that of man.” How 
rich in suggestion is that sentence,—“By preserv¬ 
ing in each successive generation the individuals 
which he prizes most, a breeder slowly but surely 
effects great changes.” Preserving those in¬ 
dividuals which we prize most is one form of 
“selection,” even if wholly unconscious selection. 
From the article “Breeding,” in the Encyclo¬ 
pedia Britannica, we quote:—“Since a breed is. 
a domestic variety, it implies the existence of a 
group of individuals marked off from their con¬ 
geners by the possession of certain characters 
which are transmitted to their offspring. It is 
this transmission of peculiarities which is the 
essential characteristic of a breed; for any col¬ 
lection of domesticated organisms could be 
divided into groups of individuals, distinguished 
by certain points, but such groups would not 
necessarily form breeds. It is evident, then, 
that the law of heredity which asserts that ‘like 
begets like’ must hold good, or the existence of 
breeds will be an impossibility.” * * * * 
“Whatever views we may entertain, respecting 
the origin of our domestic animals and plants, 
there can be no doubt as to the matter of fact 
that breeders have always proceeded on one 
principle ,—select the best individuals in each gen¬ 
eration and pair them.” 
Speaking upon this point, Wright’s “New 
Book of Poultry” says:—“Every desired quality 
which has become characteristic of a race or 
strain of animals, is the result of repeated and 
continuous selection year after year of breed¬ 
ing stock which possesses that particular quality 
in more or less perfection. This is equally true, 
whether we consider some purely ‘fancy’ point, 
such as the pencilling of a Hamburgh pullet, or 
some useful quality such as the laying of over 
160 eggs in a year; or the profuse milk yield of 
a highly bred Jersey cow.” 
From this it is perfectly evident that birds 
which have been persistently bred for egg or 
meat production, may as rightly be called “thor¬ 
oughbred,” (if they have been bred to the type 
a sufficient length of time to have acquired the 
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