1 Juny, 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 15 
circumstances and as to what he can produce most readily. But there is one 
most important point which cannot be overlooked; and that is, water. It may 
be laid down as a fundamental principle that, without good water, it 1s impossible 
to have good milk. The truth of this may be easily seen when it is remembered 
that according to the analysis of Dr. Voelcker, the chemist of the Royal Agri- 
cultural Society, England, the composition of genuine cow’s milk is as follows — 
Four samples are taken, thus showing what variation may be looked for. 
1. 2. 3. 4, 
Water ... na ... 83:90 85:20 87°40 89°95 
Butter ... ial wo TB 4:96 3:43 1:99 
Caseine ... ie eee: | 3:66 3:12 2°94: 
Mild sugar... .. 446 5:05 5:12 4:48 
Mineral matter... Bowe Sf 1:13 93 64 
As to shelter, it need not be elaborate, but sufficient to keep the cows com- 
fortably warm. Iron roofing is not, in my opinion, desirable, as it cools very 
quickly, and in winter that would be a state of affairs to be avoided ; shingles 
or bark are preferable, though not so durable. On this point the dairy-farmer 
must use his own judgment, and so long as warmth and dryness are secured he © 
cannot go far wrong. 
eee 
PRINCIPLES OF SHEEP BREEDING. 
No. 2. 
By HERMANN SCHMIDT, 
I wave tried to explain that the variable nature of our domestic animals is due 
chiefly to the fact that they are living under entirely different conditions than 
did their wild ancestors, and that by careful selection, and ultimately by 
inbreeding, we can produce great uniformity in their outer appearance as well 
as in their internal organisation. So that the desirable qualities which we have 
endeavoured to establish are now more or less constantly transmitted to the 
coming generations. Generally speaking, we must suppose that every 
peculiarity is more or less liable to be transmitted : the qualities of the body and 
of the mind, such as shape, size, and constitutional tendencies, disposition to 
diseases and other deficiencies temperament, virtues, vices, and habits ; but since 
our domestic animals possess the power of transferring their individuality 
personally in different degrees, and as they are still under the influence of 
those agencies which have caused their variability in the first instance, 
occasional deviations from their present form still occur, though rarely ; 
these are called reversions or throwings back. In many cases it is difficult 
to ascertain whether any such new form is merely to be considered as the 
reappearance of a type which was common amongst the ancestors of the 
animals that show mah a deviation, or whether it has been produced through 
the agencies of change of food, of superabundance of it, or of bad nutrition. 
Changes of climate, or other circumstances for which we cannot account, may 
also have caused them. ae 
_ By reversion we understand the reappearance of peculiarities that have 
existed amongst the ancestors, as I have explained before. Infection means 
any effect on the mind, whilst impregnation implies the introduction of some 
organised substance into a female during the acts of conception or gestation. 
Under the head of infection would come such as Jacob’s trick to obtain spotted 
lambs. Amongst the cases of remarkable deviations from the prevalent type 
there are some which admit of other explanations than that of reversion. T shall 
enumerate a few of these cases, and then give the explanations that have been 
suggested by various naturalists. We have here to distinguish between what 
may be called sports of nature and those malformations which may be attributed 
to imperfect development, such as hare-lip and other instances of the imperfect 
. 
