120 BBEEDING IN-AND-IN. 



others, and its stock rams were selected from its own number. 

 Consequently fathers and daughters, and brothers and sisters 

 must have constantly bred with each other. Mr. Chamber- 

 lain's Silesians have not received any cross, or any fresh blood 

 from either of the original families, within half a century ; 

 yet they are 50 per cent, larger than the sheep they originated 

 from and are entirely healthy. Mr. Hammond's Infantados 

 present a still stronger case. They were bred in-and-in 

 by Col. Humphreys up to the period of Mr. Atwood's 

 purchase ; Mr. Atwood bred his entire flock from one ewe^ 

 and never used any but pure Humphreys rams; Mr. Ham- 

 mond has preserved the same blood entirely intact and 

 thus, after being drawn beyond all doubt from an unmixed 

 Spanish Cabana, they have been bred in-and-in, in the 

 United States, for upwards of sixty years. Fortunately Mr. 

 Hammond has preserved some of his leading individual 

 pedigrees, and I will give one of these as a most forcible 

 illustration of the subject under examination. For that 

 purpose I will select the pedigree of Gold -Drop, one of his 

 present stock rams. It includes that of Sweepstakes the 

 ram figured in the frontispiece and has the advantage of 

 exhibiting the course of breeding for two generations later. 

 The pedigree is given on next page. 



