852 A HISTORY OF SHORT-HORN CATTLE. 



horn type. On account of the existence of this 

 English rule the American association requires 

 that English-bred cattle to be eligible for reg- 

 istry must trace in all their crosses to animals 

 recorded, or eligible to record, in the first 

 twenty volumes of Coates' Herd Book. The 

 twentieth volume of that record was issued in 

 1873. 



While it is the well-settled policy of the 

 American management to oppose any re- 

 laxation of the herd-book rules, the fact re- 

 mains that some of the most valuable Short- 

 horns of the day in Great Britain are to be 

 found among those that have been bred into 

 Coates' Herd Book since 1873 under the four 

 and five-cross rule. This is particularly true 

 of that large and valuable contingent in the 

 English herds possessing rare merit for dairy 

 purposes. It is conceded that there are grave 

 objections to opening the door in America to 

 the creation of new families, and yet it is 

 possible that the time will come when long- 

 continued confinement within the limits of 

 stock descended from ancestors already of 

 record in the American Herd Book, and in the 

 first twenty volumes of the English may ren- 

 der it increasingly difficult to carry on the 

 work of improving the breed; especially when 

 choice of sires is still further narrowed by 

 the dictates of fashion in blood lines and color. 



