CATTLE. 378 



COWS remarkable for these qualities, will secure the desired 

 results more surely than any other course. But a stop should 

 genera,lly be made at the first cross, that is we should go back 

 CO the pure bred sire of the same breed, to be used with the pro- 

 geny of the first cross, and so on. Any other course will lead 

 to confusion and degeneration, and is never advisable if it can 

 be avoided. 



Dairy qualities do not, it is true, belong to any one breed in 

 particular, but as they are dependent largely upon structure 

 and temperament, which are hereditary, they are themselves 

 transmissible through the male parent. Endless disappoint- 

 ment has followed the raising of the offspring of .cows remark- 

 able as milkers, simply because the qualities in them were 

 accidental, the males not coming from cows of similar long 

 established, high dairy qualities. Three or four years of labor 

 and expense have been incurred, only to find that the offspring 

 of such animals will not justify the outlay, unless equal care 

 is taken in selecting the male, to which they are bred, with 

 special reference to the same qualities, or qualities which we 

 seek to obtain and perpetuate. 



The offspring of crosses, taken in this way, with a pure bred 

 male and the common cow, will be grades, but grade cows are 

 often better for the practical purposes of the dairy farmer than 

 pure bred ones. Both parents undoubtedly have a great influ- 

 ence in transmitting the milking qualities of the stock, and the 

 skill of the breeder is displayed in the selection of individual 

 animals from which to obtain crosses. 



This latter mode of improvement requires less skill, however, 

 and less exact and critical knowledge of stock than the first. It 

 IS easier to appreciate the good points of an minimal already 

 greatly improved than to discover them lying latent in the ani- 

 mal which we propose to use as the basis of improvement. This 

 23 



