PRACTICAL POINTS IN BREEDING 77 



whatever has a decided notion tliat inbreeding is dan- 

 gerous. I presume our fathers tell us this simply be- 

 cause their fathers told them so and their grandfathers 

 before them, and not one in many thousands has ever 

 given the matter an}- trial or serious thought. Even 

 with a trial it does not follow that every case will be a 

 success, any more than the mating of animals not re- 

 lated will be a success in every case. The animals mated, 

 whether kin or not. must be suited to produce good re- 

 sults : that is. have no weakness in common, and as much 

 good as possible." 



A. J. Lovejoy of Illinois, a close and practical observer 

 in the business of breeding the highest class of Berk- 

 shires, expresses this belief: "We are believers in quite 

 close, even inbreeding. We find the greatest show ani- 

 mals closely inbred. Sires to half-sisters is the most 

 common form of close breeding, though cousins, nephews 

 and nieces, and even brothers and sisters, are bred to- 

 gether with great success. It of course requires good 

 judgment in mating animals that are particularly strong 

 in individual merit. Should each have a bad defect in 

 any way, we would expect that to be more manifest in 

 the offspring, and likewise the good points would be 

 better ; so i f one mates equally good specimens the pro- 

 duce will be an improvement. There is no other sire of 

 any breed so prepotent as an inbred sire. When we get 

 to the point where we feel the need of outside blood we 

 mate an imported sow with our best boar, and from this 

 litter we select a boar to use on the get of his own sire 

 from other sows in the herd : that is, we breed this boar 

 on his own half-sisters." 



