90 SWINE IN AMERICA 



competition, or the person or committee making the 

 award may have been incompetent, biased, or even cor- 

 rupt, although it is the opinion of the author that very few 

 mis-awards are (hie to sheer cHshonesty on the judge's 

 part. aVgain, whether a prize winner or not, an animal 

 liighly fitted with a view to its successful competition 

 against others it is likely to encounter in the hotly con- 

 tested show ring of any considerable latter-day exhibi- 

 tion, while possibly not injured for breeding, certainly 

 has not been intrinsically benefited in any wise thereby, 

 unless it be for the shambles. The fitting may reveal a 

 perfection of individual quality that otherwise could be 

 no more than suspected, but it adds nothing of value to, 

 and in fact may detract much from, any improving 

 qualities transmissible to offspring. Still again, an ani- 

 mal may possess an individual excellence that is beyond 

 question (a freak or sport may have this), yet its good 

 looks alone give no reliable assurance that its progeny 

 will inherit the same characteristics. The show pig, 

 champion though it be, is not perforce the best purchase 

 or parent. 



THE PEDIGREE 



As Doctor A. S. Alexander of the Wisconsin experi- 

 ment station, discussing pedigree, says, it is a record 

 showing the animals that have in succession entered into 

 the breeding of the individual. "It shows, too, that he 

 belongs to a distinct breed, possessing, therefore, the pre- 

 potency of that breed, and in addition to this possession 

 it guarantees a certain degree of individual prepotency 



