536 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



ancestor will usually hit the likeness of a good, rather than an 

 inferior ancestor. When the long line of ancestors is unknown, 

 and no history of them is recorded, we can have no idea what 

 the offspring will be like. The chances are that inferior ances- 

 tors predominate in common or scrub stock, and if the laws 

 of heredity and reversion mean any thing, we may expect little 

 or no improvement of stock by using for sires and dams animals 

 of such mixed and unknown breeding. If it be true that the 

 character of the offspring is affected by that of the ancestry, 

 then it follows beyond question that we may not hope for desir- 

 able types of progeny from undesirable lines of ancestry. We 

 do not expect figs from thistles, or lambs from wolves, or pure 

 waters from impure fountains. 



The Value of Pedigree. If the principles set forth are 

 true, then the breeder of fine animals must know the character 

 of the animals and families represented in the ancestral lines of 

 his breeding-stock, if he would breed with any intelligence. The 

 value of such knowledge is recognized by all intelligent and ex- 

 perienced breeders. But they all realize that the knowledge yet 

 obtainable from stud-books, records, and registers of breeding is 

 very imperfect. First, because few records or registers have 

 been kept long enough to afford a line of descent to the several 

 families that has been fixed and intensified by repeated use of 

 good ideals or representatives of the breed. The Stud-book of 

 English Thorough-breds is the oldest record, and it abundantly 

 illustrates the principle of accumulating power of repeated good 

 crosses. Second, the imperfect and incorrect statements placed 

 on record lead to errors ; some the result of ignorance of the 

 facts, others the result of willful misrepresentation. But knowl- 

 edge is cumulative and deception is not tolerated among the true 

 students of any science. Errors in fact are ruinous to correct 

 conclusions, and the student of lines of ancestors wants to know 

 the true nature and ability of ancestors before he can calculate 

 what he may expect from a given cross. 



The trotting-records are, year by year, becoming more valu- 

 able. Like wine, the older, the better. Each fermentation or 

 working throws off some impurity, and the residue is more pure 



