PET RABBITS, CAVIES, AND MICE. 15 



system ? Well, there are two well-recognized systems, 

 either of which has been successful. The one is in- 

 breeding, the other a watchful selection from time to 

 time of the very choicest sires and dams, and those that 

 are the most successful in the show pen. This latter 

 plan draws somewhat heavily on the pocket. The first- 

 named draws on the patience, perseverance, and 

 thoughtfulness of the aspirant to fame. We feel bound 

 to say, from experience, that there is far more pleasure 

 to be derived from the one system than the other. In- 

 breeding, as we understand it, is carried out thus: 

 Select a reliable. strain. Procure a sire therefrom, or 

 use the sire of the establisher. Have, say, three does, 

 one of the same blood as the sire, and the others of well- 

 known winning strains that have similar characteristics 

 to the strain you select the sire from. Save the does 

 from these matings, and select those containing the 

 greatest average of points. Buy a young sire bred from 

 the father of these youngsters by the man from whom 

 you obtained the first mating. See that the rabbit is 

 good in all points, and mate him to the does bred from 

 the first two out-cross does. The best does from this 

 cross mate to the grandfather, and probably you will 

 breed a sire of your own. In this line we have kept on 

 breeding for years without ever again introducing an 

 outcross on the male side. Our plan, in case we needed 

 a change for strength, has been to buy does that appeal 

 to us as of similar characteristics to our own strain. We 

 have observed of late signs of " trimming," or oppor- 

 tunism in the writings and utterances of some of the 

 former advocates of in-breeding. In our view in-breed- 

 ing is in no sense capable of the introduction of entirely 

 foreign sires, the more especially because they happen 

 to be winners. It is beside the point to say that par- 

 ticular breeds are so intermixed that it is hardly possible 

 to get foreign blood, and to give that as a reason why 

 it is still in-breeding if you buy as a sire a winner here 

 and a winner there. We cannot conceive the force of 

 the contention that the introduction of a sire here and 

 a sire there as being the perpetuation of a strain. We 

 call it opportunism. On this subject of in-breeding we 

 have had long years of consistent practice, so much so, 

 that we could almost forecast the results of this and that 

 mating with exactness. But there are general rules 



