No. T. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 639 



old ancestry, and the only way yon can get an animal willi the right 

 kind of germ plasm in him, is to select an animal whose ancestry have 

 all had the right kind of germ plasms. Of course, that is hereditary. 



And, yet, each animal represents a little bit of individuality, and the 

 only way to get at it is to study the animal himself. You ma^y say 

 that has no influence, but it has. His body was made out of a large 

 amount of germ plasms, but he has other cells in his testicles, and 

 you can't tell simply by studying his ancestry, or looking at him. His 

 appearance might indicate that his germ plasms are good, and yet 

 there may be in him some of the germ plasms of an inferior animal, 

 and he will show it in the next generation. So the only thing to do 

 is to get an animal Avhose ancestors are all right, so that there may bo 

 no possible chance of getting any inferior qualities. This means that 

 selection is the whole thing. In order to improve our breeding, it is 

 necessary to select the parents of our stock. We are entirely depend- 

 ent on them for this. 



T said a moment ago that the animal receives these germ ])lasms 

 from his parents, and he, in turn, transmits them to his offspring, 

 and nothing that can be done to him during his lifetime can alter 

 them. No matter how you feed him or treat him, these germ plasms 

 will remain the same. T would not make it that strong. T believe that 

 if you have a male that is weak and immature, and you mate him 

 with the same kind of a female, the womb will not be so strong, and 

 their offspring will be weak and immature, but if he gets next an 

 older female, whose womb is strong, her influence will show, and you 

 get, on the ^^"hole, an animal whose germ plasms are good. Otherwise, 

 I do not believe you can do anything further to direct the germ plasms 

 which will be jint into his offspring. 



This is well illustrated in the breeding of horses. If you want a 

 2.80 horse, you breed him to that class, or something a little better; 

 if you want a 2.10 trotter, you try to get, as near as possible, by selec- 

 tion into the 2.10 list. You select a horse with the highest marks to 

 breed by, although, very often, a horse that is unmarked will get the 

 fastest colts if he is properly mated. 



In breeding horses, once we have found a good sire, we don't change 

 males, but breed him again and again, so as to get the confoi'mation. 

 Everything good in that horse is inbred, and we keep on breeding io 

 that type until the characteristics are set in one generation after 

 another. 



I know a Texas breeder who had been breeding along the same lines 

 right along. On one occasion, he had a three year old colt that he 

 bred to soine of his choice mares. I said to Tol. Oyivill. "Aren't yon 

 taking a littlo risk in breeding that colt to a good horse?" "Well," 

 he R>aid, ''I knoAv his sire's speed, and T know Avhat he is bred for. 

 and I don't know that it is necessary for him to waste a year or two 

 of his service in the stud." This particular colt last year had five 

 in the stud, all good horses, but while Col. Oxhall was very sure thai 

 his horse was all right, he was still taking considerable chances, al- 

 though in this case it turned out all right. You have got to select 

 your .stock, and feed them and try them, and not until then can you 

 tell what they are going to do. Of course. Hie chances are that the 

 animal of pure ancestry will show up all right, but his value depends 

 on what he will do himself, not on his ancestors' record. 



