1906.] DISCUSSION. 173 



talking, I presupposed that every sire chosen was good. A 

 farmer should not use an inferior sire. 



Question. I would like to ask one question. How many 

 sires were used in getting that result of ninety-nine good points 

 of the same blood as the improved breed? That is, how many 

 different sires were used in order to get that result? 



Prof. Shaw. Five. 



Question. How could anybody tell? How could you get 

 back to the blood of the original sire anywhere in that line ? 



Prof. SHAW^ That depends on the man who is doing the 

 work. I do not recommend it for a man who is not well versed 

 in that work. He is very apt to make a mistake, but it can 

 be done. 



Question. In other words, if we have a good sire this 

 year, and next year a heifer should be bred to another sire, 

 and the following heifer bred to still another sire, and so on 

 down the line, do you get back to the original blood at all? 



Prof. Shaw. That is the safest line of breeding, in my 

 judgment. The other line may be adopted. A skillful man 

 may adopt it. I might have attained this result by using simply 

 three sires. 



The President. Do you think that this rule is invariable ? 

 As I understand it, you say there is an invariable rule, but it 

 does not seem to work always. 



Prof. Shaw. The law of variation is always unquestion- 

 ably operating. 



Mr. Stadmueller. I would like to ask a question as to 

 how much the progress of breeding has been helped by not 

 paying any attention to negative results? That is, suppose we 

 select a sire, a prepotent sire, who has sired possibly a dozen 

 cows of superior merit — doesn't that go to demonstrate some 

 ability of the strain ? 



Prof. Shaw. I do not know that I understand the question. 

 How do you explain that? Is that it? 



Mr. Stadtmueller. In other words, do we not exagger- 



