These facts teach us, in addition, a valuable lesson, namely, that we ought to be extremely cautious in judging what characters are of importance in a state of nature to animals and plants, which have to struggle for existence from the hour of their birth to that of their death,--their existence depending on conditions, about which we are profoundly ignorant.
CIRCUMSTANCES FAVOURABLE TO SELECTION BY MAN.
The possibility of selection rests on variability, and this, as we shall see in the following chapters, mainly depends on changed conditions of life, but is governed by infinitely complex and unknown laws. Domestication, even when long continued, occasionally causes but a small amount of variability, as in the case of the goose and turkey. The slight differences, however, which characterise each individual animal and plant would in most, probably in all, cases suffice for the production of distinct races through careful and prolonged selection. We see what selection, though acting on mere individual differences, can effect when families of cattle, sheep, pigeons, etc., of the same race, have been separately bred during a number of years by different men without any wish on their part to modify the breed. We see the same fact in the difference between hounds bred for hunting in different districts (21/40. 'Encyclop. of Rural Sports' page 405.), and in many other such cases.
In order that selection should produce any result, it is manifest that the crossing of distinct races must be prevented; hence facility in pairing, as with the pigeon, is highly favourable for the work; and difficulty in pairing, as with cats, prevents the formation of distinct breeds. On nearly the same principle the cattle of the small island of Jersey have been improved in their milking qualities "with a rapidity that could not have been obtained in a widely extended country like France." (21/41. Col. Le Couteur 'Journal Roy. Agricult. Soc.' volume 4 page 43.) Although free crossing is a danger on the one side which every one can see, too close interbreeding is a hidden danger on the other side. Unfavourable conditions of life overrule the power of selection. Our improved heavy breeds of cattle and sheep could not have been formed on mountainous pastures; nor could dray-horses have been raised on a barren and inhospitable land, such as the Falkland Islands, where even the light horses of La Plata rapidly decrease in size. It seems impossible to preserve several English breeds of sheep in France; for as soon as the lambs are weaned their vigour decays as the heat of the summer increases (21/42. Malingie-Nouel 'Journal R. Agricult. Soc.' volume 14 1853 pages 215, 217.): it would be impossible to give great length of wool to sheep within the tropics; yet selection has kept the Merino breed nearly true under diversified and unfavourable conditions. The power of selection is so great, that breeds of the dog, sheep, and poultry, of the largest and smallest size, long and short beaked pigeons, and other breeds with opposite characters, have had their characteristic qualities augmented, though treated in every way alike, being exposed to the same climate and fed on the same food. Selection, however, is either checked or favoured by the effects of use or habit. Our wonderfully- improved pigs could never have been formed if they had been forced to search for their own food; the English racehorse and greyhound could not have been improved up to their present high standard of excellence without constant training.
As conspicuous deviations of structure occur rarely, the improvement of each breed is generally the result of the selection of slight individual differences. Hence the closest attention, the sharpest powers of observation, and indomitable perseverance, are indispensable. It is, also, highly important that many individuals of the breed which is to be improved should be raised; for thus there will be a better chance of the appearance of variations in the right direction, and individuals varying in an unfavourable manner may be freely rejected or destroyed.