The Principles of Breeding or, Glimpses at the Physiological Laws involved in the Reproduction and Improvement of Domestic Animals

The inquiry is frequently made, what is the best breed of cattle, sheep, &c., for general use. In reply it may be said that no breed can by any possibility fulfill all requireme...

We come now to consider another law, by which that of similarity is greatly modified, to wit, the law of variation or divergence. All organic beings, whether plants or animals,...

The relative influence of the male and female parents upon the characteristics of progeny has long been a fertile subject of discussion among breeders. It is found in experience...

The practice of crossing, like that of close breeding, has its strong and its weak side. Substantial arguments can be brought both in its favor and against it. Judiciously pract...

The object of the husbandman, like that of men engaged in other avocations, is _profit_; and like other men the farmer may expect success proportionate to the skill, care, judgm...

It has long been a disputed point whether the system of breeding _in-and-in_ or the opposite one of frequent crossing has the greater tendency to maintain or improve the charact...

The first and most important of the laws to be considered in this connection is that of SIMILARITY. It is by virtue of this law that the peculiar characters, qualities and prope...

The preferable style of breeding for the great majority of farmers to adopt, is neither to cross, nor to breed from close affinities, (except in rare instances and for some spec...

It may not be easy to say whether this phenomenon is more connected with the law of similarity, or with that of variation. Youatt, in his work on cattle published by the Society...

With regard to the laws which regulate the sex of progeny very little is known. Many and extensive observations have been made, but without arriving at any definite conclusions....