XVIII 

 WHEN SUCCESS CAME TO SITTYTON 



We talk a lot about scientific breeding and the 

 various accepted laws alleged to govern the trans- 

 mission of individual characteristics. From time 

 immemorial the phrase "Like begets like" has been 

 in a general sense a commonly accepted proposition. 

 There is sometimes added to this expression the 

 words, "or the likeness of some ancestor," and in 

 this latter statement we open wide the door to all 

 sorts of variations from immediate paternal and ma- 

 ternal characteristics. Stock-breeding is by no means 

 the simple mathematical proposition represented by 

 the equation 2+2=4. The whole theory of the 

 paramount efficiency of close breeding grows out of 

 a consideration of this "some ancestor" proposition; 

 the case being summarized in the hypothesis that 

 the more we reduce the number of unrelated for- 

 bears, the fewer chances we are taking on a mere 

 leap in the darkness of a multiplicity of varying 

 individualities. The greatest results attained thus 

 far in the establishment of reliably prepotent groups 

 have come through this process of eliminating a 

 large percentage of the unknown factors and substi- 

 tuting a frequent recurrence of identical or homoge- 

 neous elements reflecting the desired characteristics. 



144 



