THE boar: selection and management 91 



dependent upon the excellence and known prepotency of 

 the ancestors on each side of the pedigree. To insure 

 both breed prepotency and individual prepotency the ani- 

 mal should have several recorded animals upon the dam's 

 side, the more the better, and the more certain will be the 

 good breeding qualifications of the pedigreed animal. 



"The sires should be of equal merit, and the most im- 

 portant point is to see that they are of known purity of 

 blood and individual excellence ; also that upon neither 

 side is there an objectionable outcross or the presence of 

 a sire or dam noted for unsoundness or other objection- 

 able trait, character or feature. Furthermore, the char- 

 acter of the man back of the pedigree should be taken into 

 account. The pedigree is comparatively valueless unless 

 the breeder and seller are noted for integrity; nor is a 

 pedigree a sufficient criterion of merit or an apology for 

 individual imperfection or unsoundness. The animal 

 sliould be a good individual, and if, in addition, there is a 

 long line of excellent ancestors upon both sides of his 

 pedigree, there will be good reason to expect that he will, 

 with considerable fidelity, transmit to his progeny the true 

 characteristics of his breed, those of his family and those 

 of his individuality. 



"In some instances an animal with a long line of 

 reputable ancestors is himself a comparatively poor indi- 

 vidual, yet he may prove an impressive sire, and, on gen- 

 eral principles, the somewhat indifferent individual that 

 has a fine line of ancestors, as shown by his pedigree, is 

 greatly to be preferred to a *scrub,' grade or cross-bred 

 animal for breeding purposes. We say this for the good 



