by leaving all the results to chance, when, by
a careful and judicious selection, they may be within our own control.

We want cattle for distinct purposes, as for milk, beef, or labor. In a
large majority of cases--especially in the dairy districts, at least,
comprising the Eastern and Middle States--the farmer cares more for the
milking qualities of his cows, especially for the quantity they give,
than for their fitness for grazing, or aptness to fatten. These latter
points become more important in the Western and some of the Southern
States, where much greater attention is paid to breeding and to feeding,
and where comparatively slight attention is given to the productions of
the dairy. A stock of cattle which would suit one farmer might be wholly
unsuited to another, and in such particular case the breeder should have
some special object in view, and select his animals with reference to
it.

There are, however, some well-defined general principles that apply to
breeding everywhere, and which, in many cases, are not thoroughly
understood. To these attention will now be directed.

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, properties, and qualities of the parents--whether
external or internal, good or bad, healthy or diseased--are transmitted
to their offspring. This is one of the plainest and most certain of the
laws of nature. The lesson which it teaches may be stated in five
words:--Breed only from the best.

Judicious selection is indispensable to success in breeding, and this
should have regard to every particular--general appearance, length of
limb, shape of carcass, development of chest; in cattle, to the size,
shape, and position of the udder, thickness of skin, touch, length and
texture of hair, docility, and all those points which go to make up the
desirable animal.

Not only should care be exercised to avoid _structural defects_, but
especially to secure freedom from _hereditary diseases_; as both defects
and diseases appear to be more easily transmissible than desirable
qualities. There is, oftentimes, no obvious peculiarity of structure or
appearance which suggests the possession of diseases or defects which
are transmissible; and for this reason, special care and continued
acquaintance are requisite in order to be assured of their absence in
breeding animals; but such a tendency, alt