SYSTEMATIC IMPROVEMENT OF ANIMALS 183 



1 89406, and that the dam was Aurora, who is recorded in Vol. 

 LI 1 1 on page 711 ; x that her sire was 5 th Favorite of Spring- 

 brook, whose recorded number is 14 16 17, and under which 

 we would find his full pedigree ; and further that this line of 

 breeding traces to the imported cow Daisy, whose sire was 

 Wild 1 1 134. 



Pedigrees for cows run the same, except that they have no 

 numbers, but are arranged alphabetically by name under the 

 breeders, also alphabetically arranged. This deplorable system 

 makes it necessary to designate females by the number of the 

 volume and the page on which their pedigrees appear. Mani- 

 festly, names are useless for purposes of designation because 

 so many are duplicates. 



The Hereford system is much better, as everything, male and 

 female alike, is recorded by number in serial order, — a plan 

 that is being more and more generally followed, whether the 

 animals recorded are horses, cattle, sheep, or swine. 



Advanced registry. It is readily noted that the ordinary pedi- 

 gree is merely a guarantee against mixed blood lines ; that is, 

 that all the blood of the individual is of the specified breed and 

 no other. It does not, however, pretend to say whether or not 

 a particular individual is a good one. It may be the best of 

 its kind or the poorest, and nothing in the pedigree would make 

 the buyer the wiser. On this point he is dependent upon 

 examination alone. 



The advanced registry, however, is a kind of second registra- 

 tion, based upon performance, and is thus a guarantee of quality. 

 Among horses it is based upon their track records, 2 and among 

 dairy cows upon the amount of milk or butter fat made within 

 a given length of time, according to an officially recognized test. 



A specimen of advanced registry taken from the Holstein- 

 Friesian books runs as follows : 



1 In the Shorthorn books the dams still have no numbers and must be 

 designated in this awkward way. 



2 See the Year-Book. 



