634 CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK AND COMPLETE STOCK DOCTOR. 



easily be bred back to the milking quality by selecting the proper fami- 

 lies ; for they once possessed this quality in an eminent degree. If you 

 wish to improve your common stock, do it by crossing upon the l)cst of 

 your common cows good, staunch, vigorous bulls, of the breed conform- 

 ing to the type of cattle you wish to attain. The first cross will give you 

 half-bloods ; the second three-cjuartcrs l)lood ; the third cross seven- 

 eighths blood, and the fourth cross — fiftccn-sixtccnths blood. These lat- 

 ter, and, even the seven-eighths bred cattle, are, for all practical puiposes, 

 of beef, labor or milk, essentially as good as those purely bred. But it is 

 necessary that pure and thoroughbred stock be kept intact, by every 

 possible precaution, since they are the source from which all excellence is 

 bred. Therefore, if you are able to breed the best, let all others alone. 

 And there are so many cattle of pure and thoroughbred stock now, that 

 such sires are not difficult to obtain, unless you wish to breed the very 

 highest caste, and this, too, from a purely fanciful standpoint. 



VI. How a Breed is Formed. 



A breed is a variety. In plants a new variety of a species is pro- 

 duced by crossing one variety on another. In the case of crossing two 

 species of the genus, to produce a hybrid, the fertility is generally de- 

 stroyed, and the hybrid cannot be perpetuated. In crossing two animals 

 or plants of the same species, but differing one from the other, the pro- 

 duct is fertile, though not in so great a degree as in animals or plants of a 

 like kind. The descendants will partake more strongly of one parent 

 than the other, and these variations, in some cases, crop out after genera- 

 tions. 



This atavism or striking back to some remote ancestor is not infrequent 

 in the Short-Horns, notwithstanding the extreme care taken in breeding, 

 and the many years that have passed since the particular cross was made. 

 On the other hand, the Dcvons breed constant to type, or nearly so. 

 Hence, the Devons are called a pure breed, and the Short-Horns are 

 called thoroughbred. The Herefords also retain this constancy in gen- 

 eral character to a remarkable degree, for the reason that they are an 

 original breed, and not, like the Short-Horns, and racing horses, made up 

 of a mixed lineage, and developed within a comparatively short time. 

 Thus the reader will see the force of the advice, "Do not attempt to 

 form a new breed . ' ' 



VII. Breeding for certain uses. 



For present practical purpose let your sires be the best you can aflford, 

 of some imi)roved breed, which should be chosen with reference to the 

 purpose for which the offsi)ring is intended. For beef and early maturity 

 choose a Short-Horn or Hereford bull. If you breed for beef and labor, 



