S.L. GOODALE,
Reading edition
SECRETARY OF THE MAINE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
BOSTON: CROSBY, NICHOLS, LEE AND COMPANY, 117 Washington St. 1861.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, By STEPHEN L. GOODALE, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Maine.
Press of Stevens & Sayward, Augusta, Maine.
PREFACE.
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.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Chapter I. Introductory, 7
II. Law of Similarity, 21
III. Law of Variation, 33
IV. Atavism or Ancestral Influence, 61
V. Relative Influence of the Parents, 68
VI. Law of Sex, 89
VII. In-and-in Breeding, 94
VIII. Crossing, 105
IX. Breeding in the Line, 119
X. Characteristics of Breeds, 127