LECTURES AND ESSAYS READ AT INSTITUTES. 263' 



Traggs, Bell Bates, Gwynnes, Blooms, and Rosamonds, are among those that 

 have been carefully bred in the hands of many, and are within the reach 

 of the average breeder. 



Why the necessity of line breeding in order to obtain sires having the power 

 of prepotency: For illustration : The produce of a strongly bred animal to an 

 inferior one, may be equal to the best, while two such bred together will never 

 produce one equal to eitlier sire or dam. Similar results may be expected from 

 thoroughbred stock bred haphazard, and the animal Fatalist, once owned by 

 the Agricultural College, is a good example. He was bred by Samuel Thorne, 

 and got by 2d Duke of Thorndale, a pure Bates. His dam. Favorite, was by 

 Neptune, a pure Booth, and though she was a superior animal, taking tlie 

 first prize at the New York State Fair, both as a yearling and as a two-years- 

 old, the produce was not an average animal, nor one that ever made a mark of 

 excellence in his offspring. As an opposite example, or for similarity in off- 

 spring, take the cow Souvenir 2d, by imported Earl of Clarence (14,1C7), and 

 having, through her dam and grand-dam, five crosses of the Bates bull. 

 Apricot's Grloster (2,500), and a strong infusion of similar blood before, she 

 has produced three calves from Brighteyes Gloster, that are abouc all alike. 



Those that follow line breeding, especially those that do not have a good 

 chance to obtain sires, often have to resort to close or in-and-in breeding. As 

 far as we know, all the great breeders have practiced it to a greater or less 

 extent, with the same purpose — that of retaining and fixing certain desirable 

 characteristics in the herd, using it as a means of improvement, and not as an 

 end desirable in itself. 



I have confined myself in this paper to Short-horn cattle, because of them a 

 public record has been kept the longest, and we can learn more of the practical 

 results of careful breeding, but the same principle carried out will produce in 

 the milk breeds the best cow for that purpose alone. The same can be said of 

 the beef-breeds; also of the horse for the road, for all work, or for draft; of 

 the sheep for wool, or for wool and mutton ; and the same of other classes of 

 animals. And as I leave this subject, I will now come to the value of 

 pedigrees. 



The value of any pedigree will depend upon its authenticity and complete- 

 ness; not depending so much on its length as upon how long the top crosses 

 have been in line without the infusion of inferior blood. It is the pedigree 

 that makes an animal worth more than he would be for beef and milk, and 

 by understanding the breeding, we may know how to couple together so as to 

 get the best results. 



In 1875 Joseph Hopkins raised a superior calf, and sold it with a spurious 

 pedigree to Mr. Allsopp for 115 guineas. Mr. A. raised 58 calves, most of 

 them inferior in quality, and some with black faces ; the general character 

 was so tainted and botched that an investigation was made, and the case 

 carried to the courts, where he obtained judgment for damages to the amount 

 of 750 pounds. This is a clear case of a good individual animal without any 

 noted ancestry to fall back upon. 



Duchess 51st was bought at Bates' estate sale in 1850, by S. E. Bolden, and 

 after arriving home, and in comparing her with other Short-horns on his 

 farm, he became so convinced of the superiority of the Bates blood that he 

 determined to make his stand on it. He went and re-purchased of Mr. Hay 

 Grand Duke (10,284), and from tliis pair he laid the foundation of the Grand 

 Dukes and Duchesses, becoming one of the most noted breeders of sires, and 

 selling for the highest prices of any one in his day in England. Why is a 



