CHAPTER XV 

 SYSTEMATIC IMPROVEMENT OF ANIMALS 



Origin of the M pure bred " • Pedigree registers • Advanced registry • Unregis- 

 tered stock and scrubs • Systems of breeding • Source of sires • Herd im- 

 provement and breed improvement • Rational improvement • Choosing the 

 breed • Breed differences slight • Market classes and grades • Knowledge of 

 market requirements needful 



Origin of the "pure bred." As the different species of ani- 

 mals were domesticated they were naturally kept by different 

 races of men and under a great variety of conditions. These 

 different people had different ideals and standards of selection, 

 and these, together with the various natural conditions of food 

 and climate, all helped to develop not one but many different 

 varieties of the race ; cattle, for example, and similarly for dogs, 

 horses, sheep, and all other domesticated species. 



Naturally some of these were better than others, and their 

 special admirers would do what they could to prevent their mix- 

 ing with other and inferior strains, that is, to keep them pure. 

 In this way we have the so-called "pure" breeds, numbering 

 in all more than a hundred more or less distinct strains, each 

 with its own type and standard of selection. 1 



England, for instance, was from early times a great cattle 

 country. In the central part, about Hertfordshire, there early 

 developed a heavy strain known as Longhorns, since modified 

 into the Herefords. 



In the northeast another superior strain developed among 

 the excellent stockmen along the river Tees and in the county 

 of Durham, known first as Teeswater cattle, afterward as Dur- 

 hams, and finally as Shorthorns, to distinguish them from the 



1 For a description of all the more common breeds of animals, see " Types 

 and Breeds of Farm Animals," by Professor Plumb. 



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