234 THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



and all that had won prizes in previous years at island shows, 

 were placed upon what was termed foundation stock. All 

 animals in Mr. James's herd book were admissable in the 

 Eoyal Society's first volume. Any animals in addition, whose 

 sires and dams were on the foundation stock, were admitted as 

 pedigree stock. On these principles this herd book is now 

 carried on. Unfortunately, many breeders set their faces 

 against the system of selection, and also thought there was no 

 necessity for a herd book at all, as the island laws against the 

 importation of cattle are so stringent that they preclude any 

 idea of the possibility of a cross. However, seeing the feeling 

 there was on the part of English and American buyers in favour 

 of animals with a pedigree, they partly went with the stream, 

 and started another herd book, and called it the General, for 

 the simple registration of all stock, good, bad, and indifferent, 

 with or without pedigree. Such a book as a guide, or recorder 

 of pedigrees, is absolutely useless — in fact, is mischievous ; as 

 breeders and farmers who are careless or lazy can go to the 

 General, and enter an animal without any sire or dam being 

 named. An animal certainly can be admitted into the Royal 

 Herd Book without a pedigree, but in this case it has to be 

 judged first, and no animal is allowed to be brought forward 

 till she has calved, so that the judges can form some idea of 

 her dairy qualifications, and not pass her simply on good looks. 

 (Such a happy-go-lucky way of business as the General Herd 

 Book cannot last long, as both English and American buyers 

 set great store by the Royal Guernsey Agricultural Society's 

 certificates of pedigree, and will not take animals on the General 

 unless they happen to know something about the family of the 

 animal they are about to purchase.) The policy, if such it can 

 be called, of two herd books on such a small island as Guernsey 

 is suicidal and unpatriotic, and can only be sustained by those 

 whose animals are not good enough to get on the "Royal" Herd 

 Book by selection, or who do not take sufficient interest in the 

 breeding of their cattle to take the little trouble necessary to 

 get them entered on the " Royal." 



Let us now turn to America. Here the breed makes rapid 

 strides. A herd book has been started some years, and the 

 rules as to pedigree are most stringent. The annexed form will 



