Live Stock Breeders' Association. 



95 



value of the poll character, and the Polled Durham cattle is the re- 

 sult. These cattle are simply Shorthorns with the horns bred 

 off. Hereford breeders were slower to recognize this point, but 

 we now have a breed of Polled Herefords produced exactly as de- 

 scribed above, i. e., by crossing Polled Durhams with horned Here- 

 fords. Fig 5 shows a calf of this breeding. Good individual Polled 

 Herefords sell for twice as much as the horned kind. 



m, ; 



Figure 5. — Hereford — Poll Durham Cross. 



There have always been a few polled animals amongst pure 

 Herefords. Breeders of these cattle formerly considered it a great 

 misfortune when a polled calf was born. Now these pure Polled 

 Herefords are almost priceless, because we know that by means of 

 them horns can be eradicated from the whole breed; and this is 

 being done as rapidly as possible. 



We see, therefore, that our newly acquired knowledge is not 

 merely a scientific curiosity. It is already being applied with highly 

 important results, though it is only eight years since knowledge of 

 those laws became general. 



There is one other very important point about the law of re- 

 combination that must be made clear. Let us recall that according 

 to this law the progeny of hybrids will present every possible com- 

 bination of the original parents of the hybrids. In the Hereford- 



