14 BREEDING OF 



sible to tell with certainty, we could almost class breed- 

 ing with the exact sciences. Unfortunately we cannot 

 do this except in those cases where the prepotency has 

 been proven, as was the case with Hambletonian, Elec- 

 tioneer, and others after a trial at the stud for three or 

 four years. But the following rule will be found use- 

 ful; viz. : that the longer the line of descent in which 

 the desired trait can be traced, the more likely is the 

 desirable quality to be transmitted to offspring; so that 

 any quality which may arise in an individual, if trans- 

 mitted for several generations, will become stronger and 

 stronger with each generation, and will soon become 

 strongly inherited, and the prepotency of each descend- 

 ing parent will be increased in the direction of the al- 

 tered character. Hence, all other things being equal, 

 there would be much better chance for obtaining a 

 very fast thoroughbred, with lots of stamina, by mating 

 a female with a male that had proven fast for long dis- 

 tances; and this chance would be greatly strengthened 

 if the male progenitors had also inherited great speed 

 with good staying powers. Therefore, the greater the 

 number of progenitors in which can be traced the de- 

 sired quality, the more likely is the quality to be repro- 

 duced in the offspring. This rule applies to all animals, 

 whether wild or domestic. 



Unfortunately we have a prepotency to reproduce 

 undesirable qualities as well as desirable. This is one 

 of the great drawbacks that breeders have to contend 

 with. For instance: a sire with small, thin feet espe- 

 cially if it has been inherited for two or three genera- 

 tions will be likely to reproduce in a large proportion 

 of his progeny this very undesirable quality. There 



