232 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



discussion, and later, in one of his forceful speeches, he, at least, 

 set right some of the ideas which it seemed were wrongly con- 

 veyed to the audience. 



In our live stock vocabulary, I believe, there is no more im- 

 portant word than pedigree, and I also believe there is none so 

 poorly understood. 



It should always be borne in mind that a pedigree is simply 

 a record of the ancestors. An animal has no pedigree when there 

 is no record of the ancestors. A good pedigree should mean noth- 

 ing more nor less than a record of good ancestors. Yet, this does 

 not always mean a fashionable one. A bad pedigree is a record of 

 ancestors that did not possess real merit. A fashionable pedigree 

 today is one whose remote ancestors have sold for fabulous prices. 

 When possible, they are kept fashionable by the speculator, who 

 hopes to stimulate a boom on past glory, and reap a harvest by 

 deceiving some over-enthusiastic youth, or blinding the unwary. 

 I once heard a high authority say, in speaking of the late Short- 

 horn fads, that if the leading breeders are to continue their mis- 

 guided family craze, it would be a blessing if the herd books were 

 made into a grand bonfire. I do not believe that he was far from 

 the true mark, though some thought it a rather strong statement. 



It has been said nothing is so dangerous as popularity, and 

 this applies with double force to the popular pedigree. When a 

 family of live stock becomes very popular, even the weeds in that 

 family will be used as herd headers. A pedigree weed is an abomi- 

 nation. A line-bred weed is even worse. Any line-bred weed is 

 very impressive to the offspring. Being intensively bred, the bad 

 qualities are only the more strongly transmitted; and the very 

 popularity of such a family is sure to work its own destruction. 

 Families are valuable only for the merit they possess today, not for 

 the merit their ancestors possessed fifty years ago. 



PEDIGREE IS OUR GUIDE. 



A record of the ancestors of both the male and the female is 

 the best guide we have to instruct us in the mating of our domestic 

 animals. While the produce will inherit the qualities of both the 

 sire and the dam, it will also partake of the qualities of grandsire 

 and granddam to a less degree, and great grandsire and great grand 

 dam to a still less degree, and so on, to very remote blood relations. 

 If we are real breeders and true moulders of form and quality, 

 this is our only guide, and present day fashion adds not one whit 



