[Book Notice.] STUDIES IN STOCK BREEDING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2516, 4 June 1902, Page 9

[Book Notice.] STUDIES IN STOCK BREEDING.

By George A. Bbowx (" Bruni "). Melbourne : Walker, May, and Co.

•Anything from the pen of such a wellknown writer on agricultural subjects as "iJruni" is certain to be both entertaining and insfaruetive. Althougb such a prosaic subject as etook breeding might be considered "dry" reading, yet Mr Brown treats the various matters dealt with in §uch a fashion that any reader desirous of adding to his fund of general information might derive pleasure from a perusal of the pages of this valuable volume. Not only does the author relates his own experiences and those of others, picked up from a variety of sources, but he quotes extensively from recognised scientific authorities "for the purpose of illustrating the subject under discussion." High, class agricultural journals have also teen drawn from in further elucidation of tho work, 1 and the author explains that he ihas drawn from that source of information in the belief that it is as good as any for a statement of facts connected with agricultural and pastoral industries. Mr ■Brown has made an invaluable contribution to » subject that is of prime importance to these colonies, and a mass of interesting information from both the scientific and practical eide is brought together. The question of heredity, the importance of which is •well known to all breeders of 3tock, is very f^lly dealt with, including atavism and kindred sub-classes of the same subject.

Atavism, or the reappearance of some . remote type of ancestor, is constantly re- I curring, and the object of the breeder is to guard against reproducing any undesirable ancestral type. Mi Brown gives a host of scientific references to this subject, which are well worthy a perusal. While atavism has to be watched for, it is not so important to' the stockbreeder as heredity. Heredity is, moreover, a. complex subject, and the prepotency of valuable types has a tremendous influence in stock-breeding. The author quotes the opposed opinions of Darwin and Weismann on this subjeot, and after referring to what other writers have to aay, concludes that "the breeders of live stock have derived but little benefit from the theories and experiments of zoologists on the subject of heredity." The work of the stock-breeder has to bo conducted on practical lines, and assured pedigree is of more importance to him than all the theories concerning heredity. Mr Brown re"ates a curious circumstance well enough known to stock-breeders: — "Dairymen have discovered from long experience that a bull of a good milkdng strain almost invariably produces good heifers for the dairy. Using a bull of what are known as th« beef breeds has often done an immense amount of harm to a dairy herd. It is of equal importance in Taising high-class dairy cattle that the 9>ull should come of a good milking family as that the cows should be good at the pail. Indeed, it would appear that the milking quality is more surely inherent through the bull than through the dam." The pw'nt is of very great importance, and chould be duly weighed by all breeders of stock.

Another important point is prepotency. "Vibnorin,' the eminent French plantgrower, in making experiments, used only those individuals possessing the capacity for transmitting their own character to their offspring. These he called his bons etalone, and he made use of them alone for the purpose of propagation, but he could not tell from examination of the plant whether or not it belonged to the preferred group." There is nothing more certain than the Ihereditary predisposition tc disease in farm animals, and in the light of this knowledge we think the practice of allowing tuberculous cattle to reproduce their kind a radical blunder. Yet our own Agricultural department permits animals reacting to the tuberculin tpst to be resPTved for breeding, instead of bavin!! them destroyed outright, and thus endeavouring to eradicate the tuberculous strain. Many experienced breeders are ablo to discover the indica-

tions of a tendency to disease. "A tendency to consumption and to dysentery is often indicated by certain well-marked signs. In cattle the most obvious of these are a thin and often apparently long carcase, narrow loins and chest, flat ribs, undue length between the prominence of the ilium and the last ribs, giving a hollow appearance to the flanks, extreme thinness and fineness of the neck and withers, hollowness behind the ears, fulness under the jaws, a small and narrow muzzle, haTd, unyielding skin, thin and dry hair, irregularity in the changing of the coat, inaptitude for fattening, prominence of the bones, especially about the haunch and tail, and want of harmony among the different parts of the body, giving the animal a coarse and ungainly 100k — appearances all indubitably hereditary, and indicative of a weal- and vitiated constitution and of a decided scrofulous diathesis." The heredity of disease is a thing stockbreeders have good cause to_ study carefully.

The inheritance of fecundity is an important matter. Mr Brown says : "The breeders of British varieties of sheep arc anxious to secure as many doublet? and triplets as possible, but the breeders of merino sheep, cattle, and horses do not care for more than single births, being of opinion that in the races mentioned multiple births are very seldom as well developed or as sound constitutionally as in the case of single births. Besides, merino ewes, cows, and mares are seldom «qual to rearing more than one young animal on pasture. Many flock masters have a prejudice against a twin merino ram as a stud sire, being under the impression that such a site is not as fertile as a ram of single birth. w This is an error, for the ram that is a twin is more likely to beget twins than asrram that is singly born." The author quotes authorities pro and con as to the inheritance of acquired characters, but a study qf -domestic animals must convince the most sceptical that acquired characters are transmitted to offspring. The special characters of the various breeds of dogs afford sufficient proof without going any further. The breeders of American trotting horses are fully convinced that tho acquired gait, entirely foreign to the wild horse, can be transmitted by inheritance.

Next to inheritance variation i« the most important principle to be noted in stock breeding, for it is by taking advantage of the tendency in all animals to vary that new breeds are established. Variation under domestication is far more common than in the wild state, and the skilled breeder will know when to recognise a promising animal as it accidently appears. Marked variation is distinguished from slight variation by the term " sport." Some " sports " show such a divergence from the parent type as to almost constitute a new species, and some of our finest breeds of sheep to-day are the progeny of sports judiciously selected. Darwin gives an account, in his "Cruise of the Beagle," of a type of cattle which in facial and cranial development bear pretty well the same relationship to ordinary cattle that the pug or bulldog does to other dogs. This breed, first noticed in the province of Banda Oriontal. were the progeny of a sport, and a similar type has appeared at other places. Polled animals frequently appear as sports among horned cattle, and among shorthorn cattle animals with unusually long horns have appeared. Sports among sheep are common, and some peculiar breeds have been produced from such animals. By far the most important sport is that with beautiful lustre wool, noticed at times arid in different countries. The Mauchamp breed, established in France, had fleeces "which had more the apearaoce of fine fur than wool."

The history of the establishment of the breed is interesting. A farmer noticed among the lambs in his flock of merinos one which presented great length and a beautiful lustre in its wool. When pld enough this animal was employed as a sire, and of the progeny a ram and ewe resembled the sire. By in-breedine the type was fixed, and a new breed established. Mr Brown gives instances of shorts of a similar character among Tasmanian merinos. "One ram," he says, "bred by Mr David Taylor, of St. Johnston*?, grew wool that was almost like silk. I saw a sou of his in the flock of Mr W. SH. Gibson, of Fairfield, Tasmania, the fleece of which was of a most beautiful character. Unwashed, it was snow white, of a brilliant lustre, and it weighed 121b." He adds, "I have often regretted that an attempt was not made to establish a variety of this lustrous type of merino. I have seen most of the wools of the world, but not one approached the Tasmanian lustre wool for length of staple and brightness, combined with softness acid quality." He gives another instance of a hiehly interesting merino sport, whose fleece differed from that of any other sheep ever seen by the author of the book. Only l±in long, it was so dense that the fleece when shorn weighed 211b. "The crimps, which are such a marked feature in all merino wool, were entirely absent, the fibre of the wool being perfectly straight and without the slightest approach to a wave." No attempt has been made to perpetuate the type. The- influence of sport* is more fully dealt with in tho chapter on new breeds of animals.

It is not our intention to further follow Mr Brown in the treatment of his subject, but what we have stated fairly well indicates the character of the work. Some of the more important chapters are those dealing with cross-breedinir, in-breeding, environment, relative influence of parents, gestation, pre-natal influence, persistence of type, etc. Every one of the 400 odd pages as replete with information such as every breeder of stock should be in. possession of. The volume is well bound and clearly printed, and is a credit to the publishers. A copy ought to be on the «helf of ever farmer's library.