No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 343 



Another very essential thing in connection with the record of 

 the individual/is the completeness of it. Of course, any record is 

 more valuable as it is more complete. Now, take an animal whose 

 records you have for six generations back — sixty-four individuals. 

 You can' ti ace that back and get a record of every one of the sixty- 

 four individuals, and the farther back that record goes, the better. 

 The f)])j(M;-tiou to the incomplete record is that it endorses an un- 

 known quantity. The farther back this unknown quantity extends, 

 the beUei it is; still, there is the chance of a case of reversion to 

 the undesirable, and the closer this ancestry is, the greater this 

 danger. The most important thing in connection with these records 

 is reliability. It qualities every other thing. If the pedigree is not 

 reliable, you can't depend on it. Now, your means for determining 

 the reliability of these certificates is the work of the Association. 

 When you buy a horse you do not get proper satisfaction until you 

 g<;t a pedigree certificate, together with a transfer certificate. You 

 want a clear title. You don't simply want to know that he has 

 the advantage of being pure bred, but you want to be "able to prove 

 it, and you go to the records to see that it is clear all the way back. 

 It is exactly the same thing as buying a piece of real estate. 

 You not only want the deed to it, but you go to the records to see 

 that the title is clear all the way back. So with the pedigree certifi- 

 cate. You do not get a clear title until you get a certificate attested 

 with the sign and seal of the Association in which he is registered 

 and this association is authorized by the government. Many men 

 buy cattle that are not reliably pedigreed, and find it out to their 

 sorrow when it is too late. 



There are three kinds of unreliable certificates that are worked 

 off on the unsuspecting buyer, if he is not careful to see that the 

 horse is properly registered in an Association duly authorized. Tlie 

 first of these is an out and out counterfeit. I don't mean by this 

 that the majority of dealers are dishonest men to that extent, but 

 I know of a man who was buying in Prance, and the dealer said to 

 him^ "If you take such and such a horse, I will give you two pedi- 

 grees." My friend said "What would I do with two pedigrees?" 

 The dealer smiled and said "Use them. I sold one horse with which 

 I gave seventy pedigrees." Again, a man is a good dealer, and he 

 has a perfectly straight pedigree, but his horse dies, and he knows 

 there is a horse in his neighborhood which just about fits the de- 

 scription in the pedigree, so he goes and gets that horse, and uses 

 this pedigree on him, which does not in the least belong to him. 

 I have known one case where a horse was gelded at three years old, 

 and a horse nine years old is using his pedigree today. The third, 

 and most frequent form, is that of the certificate of the unauthor- 

 ized association. There are a number of these Associations today 

 that are not authorized, and they issue the certificate a little cheaper 

 than the authorized Association, so a good many men think it is 

 just as wel], and a little cheaper, to have their horses registered 

 there. Now, there is a man in +his audience who showed me a beau- 

 tiful breed of mares. I asked him about the pedigree, and he said 

 "Oh, yes,'' and showed me one of these unofficial certificates. The 

 bogus certificate is usually more flashy than the authorized one; it 

 has more gold on it, and makes it look dashier. I recognized the 

 fact that this Association had no standing, but di<Jn't want to tell 



