182 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT, 



inherited from the wild cow which ted in lowlands where the herbage was 

 rich and where her cloven hoof enabled her to walk in boggy ground in 

 safety, hid her calf from cruel and hungry foes and grazed with the herd, 

 returning to her calf with full udder and has transmitted to us the milk cow 

 and the mother's instinct to hide her calf. In the horse — the domestic 

 mare in the pasture lets her foal nurse only a little at a time, but often. 

 This is a habit coming from the wild mare, who feeds in the open, ready 

 at any moment at the approach of wolves or wild dogs to take to her 

 heels seeking safety for the colt in flight ; to keep her colt in running trim 

 its stomach must not be full, and she allows it but a draw or two at a 

 time, so it can flee by her side. The colts of the fleet and watchful mothers 

 alone survive and breed up a superior race of horses. 



Nature in her great law of the survival of the fittest, should teach 

 us a lesson in breeding. The law of heredity, or the old maxim, that 

 like produces like, has built up our pedigrees, a good law to hold to but 

 not infallible. We see the animal, or should, before we trace the pedi- 

 gree, and if the pedigree is satisfactory, that is the animal for our herd. 

 But with some the pedigree is first, the individual excellence of the ani- 

 mal second. Now the one who chooses from pedigree places too much 

 value on remote ancestry. From my observation and experience, the 

 culmination of heredity should be in the good qualities of the animal 

 you are selecting ; the two should go hand in hand, a good animal and a 

 good pedigree, then you have assurance doubly sure that your animal 

 will be prepotent ; generally prepotency can be expected only from a union 

 of this kind. 



This power of prepotency sometimes ceases with the animal, the 

 oflFspring are all that you could desire, but the power of transmission 

 does not reach to the third generation. We see this in all breeds and 

 that family drops out of the first ranks soon enough to keep the pedi- 

 gree crank from spoiling many good herds, but as a general rule the 

 prepotent animal transmits the same qualities to the oflFspring and they 

 breed on and on, then pedigree becomes a talisman for a. good animal. 



There is another term or word used in fine breeding that in the 

 breeder's parlance means something very dififerent from what it does to 

 those who are afraid of the devil and to court his favor, call him Old 

 Nick, we drop the familiar and endearing "Old" and simply call it Nick. 

 The term means the dropping oflf the bad qualities and retaining the 

 good qualities in blending the bloods lines of two distinct families in 

 mating. To illustrate, we take the Grove Third, from whose loins more 

 good Herefords have sprung than any other noted sire, but of the many 

 sons of his who have worn the purple all have had for mothers Spartan 



