l8o BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



you know if an animal is bred after the method I have been 

 talking about for, say, about ten generations, even then you 

 cannot get that animal recorded according to the rules in force 

 now in any herd book. That sire, bred in that way, and partic- 

 ularly chosen, might be better than any registered sire. I will 

 admit that. 



Mr. Phelps. There is one very important lesson brought 

 out right there, and that is, that a pedigree is nothing more or 

 less than a record of the ancestry of an animal, and may be 

 worth two cents, and it may be worth two hundred dollars. 

 There may be an instance where an animal has no pedigree, 

 simply because there was no printed record kept of the ances- 

 try of the animal, yet it would not hurt the animal for breeding 

 purposes. On the other hand, there are many animals w^ith 

 big, long pedigrees, w^hich are of little value either for their 

 direct product or their offspring. 



A Member. I have listened with a good deal of pleasure 

 to the statement which the Professor has made concerning his 

 success at the international stock show, with his Southdown 

 sheep, and I would like to ask this question. I am not a stock 

 breeder, but I am curious if you are going to breed animals, 

 for instance, mutton sheep, to send to the international stock 

 show, would you, if you were going to do that again, select 

 dams from range sheep and breed them with a fine South- 

 down, or would you breed the Southdown pure? 



Prof. Shaw. I would rather prefer the former course. 



A Member. With the native range sheep ? 



Prof. Shaw. Yes, and I will tell you why. There is no 

 harm in introducing a little alien blood. That is very apt to 

 strengthen the strain. Now I am ready to quarrel with all the 

 live stock associations in the L'nited States on this point, but no 

 matter about that now. If an animal is bred for twenty gen- 

 erations in that way you cannot get that animal recorded in 

 any herd book. I think it is a damage to the breeding interests, 

 but perhaps that caution may be necessary. Be that as it may. 



