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

Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation and unusual spelling in the original document have been preserved.
Note that 'neat cattle' does not refer to cattle that dress nicely, nor is it a typo. Neat cattle are domesticated straight-backed animals of the bovine genus.
The writer has had frequent occasion to notice the want of some handy book embodying the principles necessary to be understood in order to secure improvement in Domestic Animals.
It has been his aim to supply this want.
In doing so he has availed himself freely of the knowledge supplied by others, the aim being to furnish a useful, rather than an original book.
If it serve in any measure to supply the need, and to awaken greater interest upon a matter of vital importance to the agricultural interests of the country, the writer's purpose will be accomplished.


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, judgment and perseverance with which his operations are conducted.
The better policy of farmers generally, is to make stock husbandry in some one or more of its departments a leading aim—that is to say, while they shape their operations according to the circumstances in which they are situated, these should steadily embrace the conversion of a large proportion of the crops grown into animal products,—and this because, by so doing, they may not only secure a present livelihood, but best maintain and increase the fertility of their lands.
The object of the stock grower is to obtain the most valuable returns from his vegetable products. He needs, as Bakewell happily expressed it, the best machine for converting herbage and other animal food into money.