BREEDING

is the art of improving races of mestic animals by continuous attention to their ing, in conjunction with a similar attention to feeding and general treatment. Both plants animals show great susceptibility of modification der systematic cultivation. We owe our cereals, most important garden herbs and fruits, and our flowers to the continued cultivation of wild stocks, which in their original form bore but slight resemblance to, and gave few indications of, the qualities of the perfected specimens. In aninials the susceptibility of modification exists to so great extent that it would almost seem, on looking in gro at what has been accomplished by it, to be limited. Experience, however, shows that great are the results of systematic breeding, there are defined limits to its power; and that its application is attended with many difficulties, even the very with which modifications may be produced rendering it liable to abuse; for in breeding the difficulty is merely to effect changes, nor even to effect them tinuously in a desired direction, but to select proper judgment and due forethought of both and remote consequences the directions in which most desirable to effect tiienou Both cultivators plants and breeders of animals, when very desirous of producing a particular quality in great perfection, frequently sacrifice other quiJities unduly to This may be done to such an extent as to hazard even the permanence of the quality preferentially developed by destroying the basis on which it The tendency to do this is in fact one of the defined limits to the ls, power of breeding. There can a no doubt that by long and systematic cultivation sum of desirable qualities in particular races, both plants and animals^ has been greatly increased, qui that in two ways. Individual specimens have been and produced po e ing a much higher sum of desinble qualities than any specimens of the original stock could have exhibited; and the same stock many Par varieties have been taken, developing different perfections, the germs of all of which may have been contained in the original stock, but which it woold have been impo ible to develop simultaneously in a single specimen. But when an effort is made to develop rapidly, or to its extreme limit, any particdar even quality, it is always made at the expense of some were other quality, or of other qualities generally, by of which the intrinsic value of the residt ia neoenarily affected. High speed in hors^, for example, is only Gaul attained a^ the expense*bf a sacrifice of strength and power t>f endurance. The cdebrated merino sheep, the from whid i the fine wool of Saxony is taken, are the an result. of a system of house breeding which reduces the the general size and vigour of the animal, and diminishes the value of carca . When animals them are bred, as in this country, for supplying the maiket with meat, the yield can, on the contraiy, be greatly worn increased by stall-feeding; but the flavour of meat so was produced, however fine its appearance, is never equal such to that of free animals, and genuine quality is sacrielecficed to quantity. In seeking to effect improvement by breeding or cultivation, therefore, mud i care and judgment are needed to calculate not merely how a particular effect may be produced, but how it may be produced with the smallest sacrifice, and so as to leave the greatest balance of advantage in favour of The the improver. the Breeding, as a means of improving domestic ammals, has been practised more or le systematically wherever any attention has been paid to the care of too animals. The great number of varieties to be found among horses, dogs, pigeons, and other domestic animals, is in great measure to be attributed to the care of breeders. It ia not from any theoiy, but from do common observation, that a knowledge of the advanpairtages of a regular attention to breeding has been their derived, and the facility with which it may be used and as a means of effecting given purposes has always unbeen readily discovered by those who have paid atour tention to the subject. It is only within the last finest century, however, and in particular in connection with tiie improvement of the breeds of cattle and sheep, that vie subject has received much attention as one of distinct sdentific investigation in this oounsame tiy. The attention of rearers of sheep and cattle an has for about that period been greatly turned to the the advantages of breeding. One of earliest improvers, and to whom more than any one else the opening up unas of the new era was due, was Robert Bake well, of well- Dishley, in Ldoestershire. Commencing his experiments about 1745, he found at that time no general ease attention paid to the different breeds throagfaout the country. Every district had its own particular ideas not of excellence, and generally confined itself to its own conbreed, many of which were very inferior. BakeweU with took at once a mercantile view of the subject^ and near uiged the general cultivation of those qualities which it is were best suited for producing profitable results. He of travelled the country, di eminating his principlc«, and he succeeded, after great sacrifices, in produdng. besides other improvements in cattle and borsea, the it. celebrated Dishley breed of Ldcestershire ahe^p, which has since maintained a high reputation. Bake well's prindple in forming his stock was to aim at rests. producing ' fine forms, small bones, and a dispositiun best to make fat readily.' More recently the sabject ot be breeding has been much discu ed by tbecMrists a* the well as by practical breeders. The reemlt of investigation has been to show that in the oourae of th^ of and improvements effected, there has often waste of power. One improver, for example, has Bacrificed the wool of a particular breed of sheep to the carca ; another has subsequently improved the wool but diminished the yield pf meat, the facility with which different objects might be accomplished thus often leading to more fluctuation in the aims of the breeders than was consistent with steady improvement. Thus much has been ascertained by the general observation of results, and a few leading principles have been laid down, but little exact knowledge has been acquired as to how the improvements of breeding are effected. Oppottte theories are contended for with equal zeal, while the practical skill of the experienced breeder appears to derive little a istance from either, succe ful experiment as weU as opinion being ranged on both sides of the question. Breeding is thus still to a great extent a matter of individual judgment and experience, even those who know most about it differing in their explanation of the facts, and of the causes td which they a ign their own improvements. In this state of matters, we shall indicate briefly a few of the leading facts and opinions in regard to the remarkable improvement which has been effected in the breeds of sheep and cattle in this country, which has made our stock the wonder and admiration of other countries. That a great and general improvement in the size, weight, and quality of our sheep and oxen has been effected, is undoubted; and it is equally undoubted that this improvement has been due to the continued application of the skill of practical breeders. This is proved by the fact. that improvement has closely followed the state of our markets. The impre which Bake well gave to the movement has continued more consistently than any other characteristic which has attended it. Quantity of meat, smallne of bone, lightne of off^; in cows, yield and quality of milk; in sheep, weight and finene of wools, have all been studied with remarkable effects; but those who have had occasion to observe the details of the improvements, will find in all of them a close relation to mercantile value. In particular cases, cows have been made to yield milk much sii{>erior to the general quality, but the quantity of the yield in these cases is limited, and improvement in this direction has consequently been restricted. Experiment has shown that British sheep can be made to yield longer and finer wool than is usually taken from them; but with the British cost of feeding, and with the British market for meat close at hand, the inducement to bring wool to the highest attainable periection is outweighed by the immediate advantages of a good yield of fair quality, together with a valuable carca . On the other hand, it pays eminently to bring sheep and oxen early to the market, and the age at which an animal reaches full condition has been considerably advanced in this direction. While an improvement such as this affords abundant evidence of the great susceptibility of change in animal nature, it is le conclusive in regard to the settlement of first principles than a similarly extensive experiment conducted on a purely theoretical basis might have been. It is therefore the le surprising to find differences of opinion 'on theoretical points. One point may be stated with confidence as generally admitted, and as the true basis of practical improvement; and beyond this it is scarcely safe to go. It is on the individual selection of suitable animals that the improvement of qualities transmitted by descent must rest, and the more gradual the stages of improvement are — that is, the more similar the breed of the animals po e ing distinctive differences — the more surely may the improvement be Muuntained and transmitted in succeeding generations. This fundamental principle gives a standing-point to the advocates of both V0L.L 721 the opposite theories of tn-and-in and cro breeding. Theorists generally are opposed to the former, and it is commonly held by them as tending to degeneracy. This is stoutly denied by some practical breeders, and not without an appearance of facts on which to rest their opinion. If in-and-in-breeding has its dangers, it cannot be denied that cro -breeding has its. When the breeds are too di imilar, there is always a tendency in subsequent generations to relapse to their former types. There is the still greater danger when the breed experimented upon has valuable qualities, of sacrificing them for a doubtful equivalent. The number of experiments frequently made in opposite directions has already been alluded to as an abuse to which cro -breeding is liable. When the practice of breeders is dominated by a general principle, such as the mercantile desire of profit alluded to, there is a further danger, not perhaps sufficiently considered, of destroying original types, and bringing the qualities of the different breeds into a dead level of uniformity. This may seem inconsistent with the variety of practice just referred to, but is not really so. Although starting on different roads, and sometimes in diverging directions, our breeders all tend to the same point, and ultimately reach it by abandoning their divergences. The tendency of modem breeding, like many other tendencies of civilization, is more and more te the production of uniform types. The history of the different British breeds affords some curious instances of the rapid and extensive conquest of superior over inferior breeds; and the same proce is still going on, governed by the same principle, an exact calculation of the mercantile returns of each breed. If this calculation always comprehended every element of ultimate value, there would be no danger, as differences of locality would condition difference of breed; but mercantile calculations are not usually so profound, and their tendency hitherto has been in the direction of levelling distinctions. All the desirable qualities of a species, as has be^en already mentioned, are not, however, developed in a single variety. The gardener, whose glory it is to produce every po ible development of beauty in the forms of his plants, is in no danger of forgetting this. The breeder of cattie, who looks to an immediate return for a large quantity of cheaply fed meat, is very differentiy sitriated. Perhaps the dangers of in-and-in-breeding are a ociated more than is suspected with the practice of castration, which forms so universal a part of the artificial treatment of domesticated, ana especially of gregarious animals, and which in the course of a few generations must bring the stock of a particular owner into the doeest consanguinity. If this is so, probably many of the advantages of cro -breeding might be gained without destroying particular breeds by frequent and judicious interchanges among neighbouring breeders. When there is a deficiency of desirable qualities in any breed, there can be no risk in having recourse to cro -breeding; but when a particular breed, such as our West Highland cattie, po e es high excellencies, it is probably safer to leave them undisturbed. For an account of the different breeds of British cattie and sheep, see Dr. Mac Donald on Cattie, Sheep, and Deer (London, 1872). BR££2^ES, Sea and Land. See Wind. 366