IN-AND-IN BREEDING. 



and the certainty with which they are transmitted, as 

 the offspring, at the time of birth, can only be pos- 

 sessed of the characters they have derived from their 

 ancestors. The true means of improvement have 

 already been pointed out in the chapter on variation, 

 and we must look upon methods of breeding solely 

 with reference to the perpetuation of characters thus 

 obtained. 



ISTo matter what opinions we may form as to the 

 advantages or disadvantages of close breeding, the fact 

 remains the same :f that all the great breeders have 

 practised it to a greater or less extent, and, as far as 

 we are able to judge, with the same purpose) that of 

 retaining and fixing in their flocks and herds certain 

 desirable characters that have been developed by mod- 

 ified conditions. 



The extent to which in-and-in breeding has been 

 practised by the breeders who have attained the great- 

 est celebrity is shown in the accompanying diagrams. 1 



The pedigrees in a number of the diagrams are 

 arranged on a new plan; the name of each animal 

 being given but once, while the lines are drawn so 

 that the relationships can be readily traced. 



The pedigrees are selected to represent the most 

 popular families of the leading breeds, as indicating 



1 Some of these diagrams were prepared to illustrate a lecture on 

 " In-and-in Breeding," delivered by the author before the "American As- 

 sociation of Breeders of Short-Horns," at their meeting in Cincinnati, 

 December 3, 1873, and published in their Transactions. The lecture 

 and diagram were also published in the " Report of the Michigan State 

 Board of Agriculture for 1872." The illustrations have been made use 

 of in this chapter, but the matter has been entirely rewritten arid ar- 

 ranged to conform to the classification of topics in this work. 



