220 ANNUAL REPORT. OF THE Off. Doc. 



for we know that many of our stock-breeders to-day do not get very 

 far away from that fact and are inclined to do the same thing at the 

 present time. It is recognized by breeders and scientists that cer- 

 tain conditions tend to make heredity strong, that is, the offspring 

 resemble the parents with greater certainty under certain conditions 

 than they do under other conditions. Some of these — the more im- 

 portant ones — are the following: 



First, purity of breeding in one or both of the parents when both 

 are of the same breed. This of course would not apply if the parents 

 were of different breeds or very unlike. I do not think it will be nec- 

 essary to present many illustrations of this, though I will present a 

 few. If we have a flock of mixed fowl and breed them to a pure bred 

 male, a Plymouth Kock, if you please, we have almost without excep- 

 tion a flock of chickens that resembles the male in many respects — 

 these fowls resemble the male very much more than the female. 

 Why? Simply because the male is better bred than the female. He 

 has come down through a longer line of pure breeding. He has back 

 of him a longer line of pure bred ancestors. The same would be true 

 of breeding various classes of domestic animals which man is now 

 caring for; familiar illustrations of this kind are familiar to all of 

 you I know. 



Second, the length of time during which the ancestors have been 

 bred pure is of the utmost important. A long line of pure bred an- 

 cestry is of a great deal more importance than a short line of pure 

 bred ancestry. One illustration may be mentioned, the attempt of 

 the French many years ago to improve their sheep. You perhaps 

 know — probably all know that the English have made a very famous 

 mutton breed of sheep they have bred for years famous mutton 

 breeds of sheep, which have been noted for the fine mutton they pro- 

 duce. Many years ago a Frenchman thought he would improve the 

 French breeds of sheep by crossing them with some improved Eng- 

 lish breeds. He tried it with no beneficial results whatever, or with 

 v^ry unsatisfactory results; the sheep all looked like the French 

 sheep. The French sheep were hardy, long-limbed and poor mutton 

 sheep. They were vigorous sheep, produced little wool, and they 

 were very unsatisfactory for mutton production. He tried to im 

 prove them by crossing them with the improved English sheep — 

 with the improved rams of the mutton breeds of England, but he did 

 not get the improvement. The French sheep had been bred so long — 

 bred pure so long — that their characters were so much more firmly 

 fixed than were the characters of the English improved sheep, that 

 they predominated in the offspring. Many illustrations like this 

 might be cited to confirm the fact established among breeders that 

 the length of time during which the ancestors have been bred pure, 

 is an important factor. 



