376 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



There is always a tendency to go back to the traits of the ancestors, 

 but how do you know he will not reproduce the bad traits, instead of 

 the good ones? He is just as likely to do so. 



Then comes the cross-bred, the result of breeding two pure breeds 

 together. For instance, I will take a Holstein that gives plenty of 

 milk, but it is not rich, and I will breed him with a Jersey who has 

 plenty of richness, but not so much milk, and then I will have the 

 excellencies of the two? What is the result? I get the quantity 

 of the Jersey and the richness of the Holstein, It is the old story 

 of avatism, the -going back to the original tendencies of the ances- 

 tors. Darwin in his "Origin of Species' claimed this, and made the 

 statement that all breeds of pigeons could be traced back to the 

 old Blue Mediterranean pigeon. To prove it, he crossed the Pouter 

 and the Fan Tail and what did he get but the blue tail feathers of 

 the Mediterranean pigeon. We see the same thing in our cross 

 breeding. When we bring together two pure breeds, we increase, 

 for some unknown reas'on, the tendency to get the bad qualities ot 

 both lines. I can bring that right down to you. It is not the simon 

 pure negro that causes the most trouble; it is the mulatto, who 

 developes the worst traits of both his black and white ancestors. 

 We have the same thing in the Indian. Up in New York, we have 

 not many Indians, but we still have a few, who are a conglomeration 

 of the old Six Nations mixed with whites, combining the evil traits 

 of the white blood in them, with the same traits of their red blood. 

 They are the laziest and most shiftless being.s on earth. They won't 

 work if they can beg or steal. I could not help, at the Exposition, 

 but compare them with the real simon-pure Indian of the plains. 

 You know they had an Indian village there. These were dignified, 

 a fine type of pure breeding, the other, the evil product of the two 

 races. Perhaps I am spending too much time on this, but I realize 

 the importance of it. 



We had first the grade sire, then the cross-bred sire, but what we 

 want is a pure sire. So we get one, and use him with the herd, 

 and if his calves are what they should be, and he proves to be a 

 good animal, we will keep him just so long as he is serviceable. 

 There is more deterioration to be laid to the yearling than from most 

 any other cause. We want the strength and the stamina of fully 

 matured ancestors. I prefer to have a bull eight or nine years old; 

 I never know just what he is going to do until he is four years old. 

 I sacrificed one of the best bulls that I ever had when he was three 

 years old, and never knew it until his daughters came to milk. So I 

 have learned to keep my sires just as long as they are serviceable. 

 With grades, I would use a bull with his daughters. You will say 

 that is incestuous breeding. That is true, but when we bring these 

 two lines of blood together we get three-quarters of the line-blood 

 that we want. If there are no weakness in either sire or dam there 

 will be little to fear from such a course. And when we buy again, 

 buy a bull that is bred along that line. That is where many a far- 

 mer makes a fearful mistake; he would like a little more size, so he 

 takes another breed to get it; he would like a little more butt€r 

 so he goes to the Jerseys to get it, and perhaps he would like a 

 little mor'e beef, so he goes to the Hereford to get it. He is like 

 the woodchoppers; they were Cjinucks, their work was cold, and 



