THE HORSE BREEDING. 553 



through every species of domestic animals ; but upon no account 

 attempt to breed or cross from worse than your own, for that 

 would be acting in contradiction to common sense, experience, 

 and that well-established rule, that " best can only get best." 



Grades better than Crosses. Miles says, "As well- 

 bred males can readily be procured, the greatest improvement in 

 the mass of our farm-stock must be made by a system of judi- 

 cious crossing." The miserable failures that come from attempt- 

 ing to cross two well-established breeds, which produce a mon- 

 grel, and the general and marked improvements which invariably 

 follow from breeding natives to thorough-bred horses and pure- 

 bred bulls, boars, and rams, lead us to say: A "grade" is an im- 

 provement on the dam, and a " cross " is a disappointment. 

 Earl Spencer says : " The worse bred the female is," the greater 

 the influence of a well-bred male on the offspring. As a gen- 

 eral rule, the crossing of two animals of distinct and well-estab- 

 lished breeds is unproductive of a better animal than either. 

 Mr. Spooner says : " To cross for cross sake is decidedly wrong ; 

 that unless some specific purpose is sought for by crossing, it is 

 far better to cultivate a pure breed." 



Grade or Cross-bred Sires to be Avoided. The value 

 of cross-bred or grade animals for breeding purposes is dimin- 

 ished by the tendency to reversion ; a law that is ever present. 

 The chief improvement in mixed breeding comes with the first 

 cross of a pure blood on a female of mixed or unknown breeding, 

 hence it is not most profitable to use cross-bred or grade ani- 

 mals for sires; but they being better than the mongrels or natives, 

 are better than the latter for dams. An able writer on sheep, 

 says : " Changes, in fact, by crossing, are not to be effected in a 

 short space of time; you must look forward to several years of 

 constant exertion before you can hope in this manner" to so alter 

 your stock as to form a new breed. Cross-breeding of cattle, 

 sheep, and swine, as a means of increasing size, and tendency 

 to lay on fat, has been most successful when accompanied by 

 liberal feeding. 



The Cross of a Large Male on a small female has been 

 a much discussed question. As now the use of the large draft 



