SHORT-HORX BKEEDEKS' ASSOCIATIOiS'. 305 



Other pedigrees in previous columns. I would like to do away with the 

 imported cow with the family. Short-horn cattle originated in Great 

 Britain, and we still go there for our fresh blood, and the question will 

 nearly always be asked when a man comes to your herd to buy, "What 

 is the imported cow?" You will necessarily have to tell that, because it 

 is a matter of historj\ I think we could easily do away in our registra- 

 tion with references to the imported cow. I do not know whether that 

 would do away with this feeling or not. It has struck me that the tabu- 

 lated form of pedigree is the best way of getting rid of that trouble. 

 If the breeders, in issuing their catalogues, would use the tabulated form 

 and make no reference whatev(u- to the imported cow, it would do a great 

 deal towards straightening this matter out; but I do not see how we who 

 are publishing a herd book could publish a tabulated form. It takes a 

 whole page to make five crosses in a pedigree alone. We have run as 

 high as seventy thousand pedigrees in a single year, and in a short time 

 there would be a multiplication of books. 



This is a question that has engaged my attention a great deal, and if 

 anyone can suggest anything that will help solve the difficulty I am sure 

 the board of directors would like to have it. They are willing at any time 

 to take up these matters, because they are only representing the views of 

 the stockholders. The only question is to find the wajs and means of 

 accomplishing it. 



I am like Colonel Harris in this: I would like to have an American 

 short-horn. I can not see why it is always necessary for us to go back 

 to Great Britain, and I can not see that the imported animal is worth 

 any more intrinsically than the one bred right here at home, if the 

 individual merits are equal. It is our own fault if we do not make a 

 standard of American short-horns. We have the power to do it and we 

 ought to do it. 



Mr. Robbins: When I see a good animal the next thing I want to 

 know is how it is bred, and the only thing for me to do is to tabulate 

 the pedigree. Why do we have a short-horn association? To furnish us 

 information about our short-horn cattle. We have got to turn over a new 

 leaf. If you simply drop the imported cow from the present form of 

 pedigree and make the record that much shorter, I do not believe it will 

 accomplish much. This is a question, I think, of very gi-eat importance, 

 and I do not think it should be put aside lightly. 



Mr. Lockridge: I think Colonel Harris struck the idea when he said 

 it was in our own power to do this. I believe if ten or a dozen of the 

 best breeders in this country would throw aside these prejudices and breed 

 good cattle everybody else would jcrtn in. All the breeders in general 

 want is some one to lead them. If the leaders will get together and agree 

 to make the change the question would be solved. That is the only way 

 I think it can be solved. 



20— Agri. 



