Inbreeding 
known. The president of that associa- 
tion, Hoesch, has made a wonderful 
success in building up the German 
country swine through moderate in- 
breeding, based on three prepotent 
boars.”’ 
“Not only is it important to know 
the good blood lines, but equally to 
know the bad blood lines. Sometimes a 
very injurious line of descent is dic- 
covered, quite unexpectedly, owing its 
origin to an animal who perhaps was a 
first-class performer but not a good 
breeder. We have one notorious case 
in a government-owned stallion in 
Norway, who appears to have been 
prepotent, but in bad, not good, 
characters. Every time we find his 
name in a pedigree, we expect to find 
unsatisfactory results.” 
EUROPEANS KNOW THEIR BREEDS 
“Do you think that European breed- 
ers know their breeds better than 
Americans do?” 
“T fear there can be no doubt about 
the answer to that question. So far 
as Germany, Holland, and Scandinavia 
are concerned, the bulk of the breeders 
are certainly better acquainted with the 
blood-lines of their breeds, than are the 
bulk of American breeders. This de- 
velopment has been rapid—it is largely 
since the time of de Chapeaurouge, or 
say the last seven years; for de Chapeau- 
rouge worked seventeen years on pedi- 
grees before he published his great 
book on inbreeding.” 
“And your advice to Americans 
would be if 
“That they study their pedigrees 
more diligently. The progress they 
have made—astonishing progress, in 
many lines—has been due to the isola- 
tion of good blood lines and the perpetu- 
ation of them,’ but this has been mostly 
unconscious. They will go more rap- 
idly and surely if they make certain 
just what are their best strains, and 
then use those strains to the limit. 
They will understand and enjoy their 
in Europe 207 
work more if they will study genetics, 
although I do not pretend that a 
knowledge of genetics will work any 
revolution in breeding practice at 
present.” 3 
“Can’t we proceed still more rapidly 
if we import the best animals of 
Europe?” 
“Oh, that is all a mistake!’’ Mr. 
Wriedt exclaimed vigorously. ‘‘You’ve 
done enough importing in most breeds. 
It was a real blessing to America that 
foot-and-mouth disease stopped the 
importation of Holstein-Friesian cattle 
from. Holland. You must remember 
that there is only one animal in a 
thousand that really builds up the 
breed. Now you undoubtedly have 
many such animals at the present 
time. The thing to do is to find them 
and use them, build on them. Then 
you have a permanent foundation; 
while 1f you continue importing animals 
from Europe, even though they be 
individually fine specimens, they may 
not be just what you need to establish 
strong blood lines in your breeds.” 
“But surely we couldn’t give up 
importing draft horses.” 
“Quite true. America’s greatest lack, 
in live stock, seems to me to be a good 
American breed of heavy horses. But 
you can easily produce such a breed, if 
the value of it is more highly regarded. 
That, and the full utilization of the 
excellent light horses of Virginia, appear 
to me to be the two most promising 
lines of horse breeding in the United 
States at the present time. 
‘Finally, let me repeat the lesson 
which European experience offers to 
American breeders. Study the pedi- 
grees of your breeds, hunt up the 
‘blood lines’ that are producing the 
greatest number of good performers, 
and perpetuate, multiply, intensify these 
blood lines by moderate inbreeding or, 
if necessary, by the strongest forms of 
inbreeding. If this is combined with 
stringent selection of only the best 
animals, the breeder cannot fail.’’ 
3 A good example of this is furnished by the rapid improvement of Holstein-Friesian cattle. 
First, the breeders have found out which are the really valuable animals—the “seven day test” 
is a great help to that end; second, they are able easily to trace the relationships of these animals, 
thanks to the convenient Blue Book. 
