242 bOAKi) (»K A(iui( ri;iLTUK. 



tlH\v have f;ot. A few years ajro we had as fine a sehn-tioii of I'cthiiKl 

 China h().s,'s in our eounty as could be found, hut the farmers not to 

 erossinj: with Duroes and now we have Itadly mixed breeds. I lilie to 

 have liojirs to follow my eattle. I tind for tliis juiriiose the Poland Chinas 

 are the best. They are not too active: they eat and lie down, wliih' others 

 will roam around. I am in favor of the thorouiihbred. althoufih I am not 

 a breeder of thoroughbred sheej). 



Mr. KoIk': Of course there are two sides to this question, the side 

 of the thoi-ou,ulil)red and the side of the .urade. We can not all be 

 bree<lers of th()r()Uj;libre<l stock. 1 liave had better success with the 

 Ijutcher's block in view on tlie out-cross. I have started with thorough- 

 breds in sheeii. in hogs, in Shorthorn cattle and also in horses, and yet 

 I have universally found, in my experience, that the outcross is the 

 healthiest, the animal I get the most protit from with the butcher's 

 block in view; but 1 did not have much success in selling for tliorough- 

 breds. I might not have had the quality of stock, Init I thought I did. 

 I have universally had the best health in the animals with the outcross. 

 I have taken thoi'oughbred steers and grade steers in the same bunch, 

 and universally the tlioroughbred steer sold for the same money to the 

 butcher. 



Mr. I. M. .Miller: What do you mean by the outcross? 



Mr. Kobe: If 1 should take a Kamljouillet and a Shropshire and cross 

 them I should call that an outcross. 



.Mr. Miller: I should call that a cross. 



Mr. liobe: Take a I'olaud China hog ;ind l)reed to a Chester White 

 sow. and I should call that an outcross, because it is not in the same 

 line. Take a Duroc and cross on the females j^ou have, and I call that 

 an out<T()ss. and I have the healthiest animals in all of these lines, and 

 the animals that make the best growth. 



Mr. Miller: But when farmers do that and then continue to breed 

 on is where they make the mistake. 



Mr. Joshua Strange: The paper opens up a subjecf that is worthy 

 of a great deal of attention. It enters into tlie scientitic methods of 

 breeding stock. The way the question is stated draws the contrast be- 

 tween the grade and the pure-bred. If we can proht by scientitic :n(!thods 

 in agriculture we must follow the laws that govern it. When we take 

 pure-bred stock it is stock that is bred in line according to certain rules 

 that are laid down that make them eligible to record in a specific herd 

 book for that breed. In them we have perhaps not eradicated all of 

 the scrub stock or blood that exists in the veins of those animals that are 

 eligible to registry, and in the pure-bred stock what we call the law 

 of atavism will crop o\it many generations after the registry is made. 



