Again, hear what an excellent judge of pigs[[4]] says: “The legs should be no longer than just to prevent the animal’s belly from trailing on the ground. The leg is the least profitable portion of the hog, and we therefore require no more of it than is absolutely necessary for the support of the rest.” Let any one compare the wild-boar with any improved breed, and he will see how effectually the legs have been shortened.
Few persons, except breeders, are aware of the systematic care taken in selecting animals, and of the necessity of having a clear and almost prophetic vision into futurity. Lord Spencer’s skill and judgment were well known; and he writes,[[5]] “It is therefore very desirable, before any man commences to breed either cattle or sheep, that he should make up his mind to the shape and qualities he wishes to obtain, and steadily pursue this object.” Lord Somerville, in speaking of the marvellous improvement of the New Leicester sheep, effected by Bakewell and his successors, says, “It would seem as if they had first drawn a perfect form, and then given it life.” Youatt[[6]] urges the necessity of annually drafting each flock, as many animals will certainly degenerate “from the standard of excellence which the breeder has established in his own mind.” Even with a bird of such little importance as the canary, long ago (1780-1790) rules were established, and a standard of perfection was fixed according to which the London fanciers tried to breed the several sub-varieties.[[7]] A great winner of prizes at the Pigeon-shows,[[8]] in describing the short-faced Almond Tumbler, says, “There are many first-rate fanciers who are particularly partial to what is called the goldfinch-beak, which is very beautiful; others say, take a full-size round cherry then take a barleycorn, and judiciously placing and thrusting it into the cherry, form as it were your beak; and that is not all, for it will form a good head and beak, provided, as I said before, it is judiciously done; others take an oat; but as I think the goldfinch-beak the handsomest, I would advise the inexperienced fancier to get the head of a goldfinch, and keep it by him for his observation.” Wonderfully different as are the beaks of the rock pigeon and goldfinch, the end has undoubtedly been nearly gained, as far as external shape and proportions are concerned.
Not only should our animals be examined with the greatest care whilst alive, but, as Anderson remarks[[9]] their carcases should be scrutinised, “so as to breed from the descendants of such only as, in the language of the butcher, cut up well.” The “grain of the meat” in cattle, and its being well marbled with fat,[[10]] and the greater or less accumulation of fat in the abdomen of our sheep, have been attended to with success. So with poultry, a writer,[[11]] speaking of Cochin-China fowls, which are said to differ much in the quality of their flesh, says, “the best mode is to purchase two young brother-cocks, kill, dress, and serve up one; if he be indifferent, similarly dispose of the other, and try again; if, however, he be fine and well-flavoured, his brother will not be amiss for breeding purposes for the table.”
The great principle of the division of labour has been brought to bear on selection. In certain districts[[12]] “the breeding of bulls is confined to a very limited number of persons, who by devoting their whole attention to this department, are able from year to year to furnish a class of bulls which are steadily improving the general breed of the district.” The rearing and letting of choice rams has long been, as is well known, a chief source of profit to several eminent breeders. In parts of Germany this principle is carried with merino sheep to an extreme point.[[13]] So “important is the proper selection of breeding animals considered, that the best flock-masters do not trust to their own judgment or to that of their shepherds, but employ persons called ‘sheep-classifiers’ who make it their special business to attend to this part of the management of several flocks, and thus to preserve, or if possible to improve, the best qualities of both parents in the lambs.” In Saxony, “when the lambs are weaned, each in his turn is placed upon a table that his wool and form may be minutely observed. The finest are selected for breeding and receive a first mark. When they are one year old, and prior to shearing them, another close examination of those previously marked takes place: those in which no defect can be found receive a second mark, and the rest are condemned. A few months afterwards a third and last scrutiny is made; the prime rams and ewes receive a third and final mark, but the slightest blemish is sufficient to cause the rejection of the animal.” These sheep are bred and valued almost exclusively for the fineness of their wool; and the result corresponds with the labour bestowed on their selection. Instruments have been invented to measure accurately the thickness of the fibres; and “an Austrian fleece has been produced of which twelve hairs equalled in thickness one from a Leicester sheep.”
Throughout the world, wherever silk is produced, the greatest care is bestowed on selecting the cocoons from which the moths for breeding are to be reared. A careful cultivator[[14]] likewise examines the moths themselves, and destroys those that are not perfect. But what more immediately concerns us is that certain families in France devote themselves to raising eggs for sale.[[15]] In China, near Shanghai, the inhabitants of two small districts have the privilege of raising eggs for the whole surrounding country, and that they may give up their whole time to this business, they are interdicted by law from producing silk.[[16]]
The care which successful breeders take in matching their birds is surprising. Sir John Sebright, whose fame is perpetuated by the “Sebright Bantam,” used to spend “two and three days in examining, consulting, and disputing with a friend which were the best of five or six birds.”[[17]] Mr. Bult, whose pouter-pigeons won so many prizes, and were exported to North America under the charge of a man sent on purpose, told me that he always deliberated for several days before he matched each pair. Hence we can understand the advice of an eminent fancier, who writes[[18]] “I would here particularly guard you against having too great a variety of pigeons, otherwise you will know a little of all, but nothing about one as it ought to be known.” Apparently it transcends the power of the human intellect to breed all kinds: “it is possible that there may be a few fanciers that have a good general knowledge of fancy pigeons; but there are many more who labour under the delusion of supposing they know what they do not.” The excellence of one sub-variety, the Almond Tumbler, lies in the plumage, carriage, head, beak, and eye; but it is too presumptuous in the beginner to try for all these points. The great judge above quoted says, “There are some young fanciers who are over-covetous, who go for all the above five properties at once; they have their reward by getting nothing.” We thus see that breeding even fancy pigeons is no simple art: we may smile at the solemnity of these precepts, but he who laughs will win no prizes.
What methodical selection has effected for our animals is sufficiently proved, as already remarked, by our Exhibitions. So greatly were the sheep belonging to some of the earlier breeders, such as Bakewell and Lord Western, changed, that many persons could not be persuaded that they had not been crossed. Our pigs, as Mr. Corringham remarks[[19]] during the last twenty years have undergone, through rigorous selection together with crossing, a complete metamorphosis. The first exhibition for poultry was held in the Zoological Gardens in 1845; and the improvement effected since that time has been great. As Mr. Bailey, the great judge, remarked to me, it was formerly ordered that the comb of the Spanish cock should be upright, and in four or five years all good birds had upright combs; it was ordered that the Polish cock should have no comb or wattles, and now a bird thus furnished would be at once disqualified; beards were ordered, and out of fifty-seven pens lately (1860) exhibited at the Crystal Palace, all had beards. So it has been in many other cases. But in all cases the judges order only what is occasionally produced and what can be improved and rendered constant by selection. The steady increase in weight during the last few years in our fowls, turkeys, ducks, and geese is notorious; “six-pound ducks are now common, whereas four pounds was formerly the average.” As the time required to make a change has not often been recorded, it may be worth mentioning that it took Mr. Wicking thirteen years to put a clean white head on an almond tumbler’s body, “a triumph,” says another fancier, “of which he may be justly proud.”[[20]]
Mr. Tollet, of Betley Hall, selected cows, and especially bulls, descended from good milkers, for the sole purpose of improving his cattle for the production of cheese; he steadily tested the milk with the lactometer, and in eight years he increased, as I was informed by him, the product in proportion of four to three. Here is a curious case[[21]] of steady but slow progress, with the end not as yet fully attained: in 1784 a race of silkworms was introduced into France, in which one hundred in the thousand failed to produce white cocoons; but now after careful selection during sixty-five generations, the proportion of yellow cocoons has been reduced to thirty-five in the thousand.
With plants selection has been followed with the same good result as with animals. But the process is simpler, for plants in the great majority of cases bear both sexes. Nevertheless, with most kinds it is necessary to take as much care to prevent crosses as with animals or unisexual plants; but with some plants, such as peas, this care is not necessary. With all improved plants, excepting of course those which are propagated by buds, cuttings, etc., it is almost indispensable to examine the seedlings and destroy those which depart from the proper type. This is called “roguing,” and is, in fact, a form of selection, like the rejection of inferior animals. Experienced horticulturists and agriculturists incessantly urge every one to preserve the finest plants for the production of seed.
Although plants often present much more conspicuous variations than animals, yet the closest attention is generally requisite to detect each slight and favourable change. Mr. Masters relates[[22]] how “many a patient hour was devoted,” whilst he was young, to the detection of differences in peas intended for seed. Mr. Barnet[[23]] remarks that the old scarlet American strawberry was cultivated for more than a century without producing a single variety; and another writer observes how singular it was that when gardeners first began to attend to this fruit it began to vary; the truth no doubt being that it had always varied, but that, until slight variations were selected and propagated by seed, no conspicuous result was obtained. The finest shades of difference in wheat have been discriminated and selected with almost as much care as, in the case of the higher animals, for instance by Col. Le Couteur and more especially by Major Hallett.