Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1877-10-18

eapaDie OF transmitting Jillbt WHICH tneV &c
not possess. be it, dIsedse. or q mprbidf!ten
dency. But, say the philosophers, the dis
ease. the morbid tendency, etc. Is possessed
j by the parents. butts latent III ttltm, oanG
becomes developed i'll the offspring, ~justias
do other characters, 7 by a~tavisnI-the in
~iuence OF remote ancestors. AS Itlave
shown in previous papers, however, alta
vism, as a rule. never occurs when breeding
in-aild-ins but is caused dipsetlyeby crossing
I-by Uniting animals of 4antagonistic ten
denotes. 1t seems probable, therefore, that
the degeneration may be, the f~esultof causes
Within oar control: and five can, show az
that placing animals under different inflcnces
Eapparendly neutrqlizes these morbid tendel-
eies, and ~ that others have been inbred
"a very long time. without change OF sur
~reundings or degeneration, while 80 still
others have been takenl badly formed, lack
ing yigor and size, and while being closely
inbred, have had these faults corrected,
then 1T must be admitted hat thesGegenera-
ton. thc lack of yigor and health, are the
resiilt Of Imperfect, SURROUNDINGS, and en-
tirely Independent Of tgse relationship Of tie
parents. AS in Tie paper preceding this
gave facts Which establish the second and
third OF these points, it only remains for
M to consider tie FIRST. ="
h Mr. Darwin, who has paid great atten-
ation to this subject, is strongly of the opin-
ion that, stcrility, as well as disease, is a, di-
rect resnltso ih-hgeeding but he is contin-
uallY mentioning points which tend to show
says ;,tTs Evidence, of the evil effects of close
inter-breeding can most readilyrb he acquired
in the case of animals, such as fowls, pig
cons, ETC., which propagate quickly, and,
from being kept in the same place, are eS-
posed't to the same conditions. Now, / have
Inquired OF, very many breeders Of these
birds, and Ihavef hitherto not met with i
Single nsaa Who was not thoroughly con
viinced that an occasional cross With Another
strain Of the Same sub-yariety was Absolute
" necessary. "Mostsbreedcrs Of highly inn
proved Or fancy birds, value their. own
and are" most unwilling, 1t til risk,
iii their opinion, Of deterioration, to mako
cross The purchase OF u first rate Bird OF
another st;iin is expensive, and IeIachathhges
are troublesome ;.yet'all breeders, as far as
I can hear, excepting those who keep large
at different places for the sake Of
crossing, are driven after a time to take
this STEP IAN. and Plalvol. II.p. l45-G.)
If 1T is true. however, as stated by Samson
and otheNs,rthat wild pigeons and doves lay
eggs that produces alinaie and
A. female which mate with each other to
propagate their species, then there is Ger
taily as close in1breedingawith these, birds
in, state of nature asin dDmesticity, aad
fact of their qexistenee proves thatlhei-
sterility nor degeneration results. io,las
.5"Another general consideration, ~ says
Darwin, T.'tiNhich has hadsgreat influence on
my mind, is, That with all lerinaplirodite
animals and plants, which it might have
been thought would have Jperpetunily fer
tilted themselves, and thus llaveVbeen sub
for long ages to Che closest inter-
breeding there is no single species, as tar
ls1lcaiil discover, i'm which tire structure EN-
snrcs self-fertilization. On the contrary,
are "a multitude of cases, as briefly
stated t.tdd ip ut the fifteenth & chapter, manifest
Adaptations which favor. or Inevitably lead
70 an occasional cross between one hernia
ohfodite apsd, other OF the sane species and
hese adaptive structures are utterly pur
useless. as far as we can see, for, any other
But, admitting selt-tertilization to
'e injurious, this reasoning, it seems to me,
an hardly be applied to the higher animals.