76 VEKMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



creased size and vigor, so practice cross-breeding. But™let it 

 be first cross, for when second cross is used deterioration "fol- 

 lows. Cross your Berkshire with Chester Whites, or some- 

 thing- of the like, or your Shorthorns with your Herefords ; 

 they will be ready for the block quicker and at less expense. 

 But let them be pure-bred, Shorthorns or Berkshires ; but if 

 you are breeding for breeding animals, do not cross, for this 

 results in coarseness and inferiority. We frequently hear 

 practical farmers and breeders say that pure-bred breeds are 

 lacking in stamina and hardiness. This assumption is not 

 necessarily true. If breeding practices have been followed in 

 accordance with nature's laws, there is no foundation for the 

 assumption that pure-breeds are deficient in hardiness. Where 

 selection has been made constantly with reference to hardi- 

 ness, strength and endurance where undesirable breeding has 

 been avoided and where there has been no unnatural feeding, 

 pampering, the pure-bred animals have no peers in these 

 essentials and powerful qualities. 



I know of nothing more inspiring and grander than the 

 breeder and farmer moulding animals after his ideal, producing 

 a masterpiece as lasting and ennobling as a true artist or 

 sculptor. 



