1890.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 151 



Mr. Douglas. Well, both. They must go together. It 

 is wonderful what strides we can make with good, strong, 

 rugged, common stock, with a pure-bred male ; but they 

 must go together, if you would succeed. No one can breed 

 perfectly. Some animals will crop out that he cannot 

 afford to keep. It is those animals that we fellows buy, 

 generally. 



Mr. HiCKOX. It seems to me w^e are comino; onto 

 very delicate ground here, but I hope w^e shall learn what 

 will be of value to us. I began with breeding grade 

 Jerseys, because I was breeding for a purpose ; and of 

 course I had heard this and that farmer say, as every man 

 has, — as I have heard them say here to-day, — that he 

 would rather have a grade cow than a pure-bred. I thought 

 perhaps there w^as something in all that. But I found 

 pretty soon that the grade cow that my friends talked about 

 was not as reliable as a pure-bred animal was. You cannot 

 take a full-blooded sire and a female from common stock 

 and make a perfect animal. You want, in order to make a 

 cow that will give a great record, both the male and female 

 bred excellently, and through long generations. This gentle- 

 man says that he has had cows in his herd that were well- 

 bred, that looked like fine animals, and yet they were poor 

 stock. Now, how has this come about? The Jersey cow 

 has done a great deal for us in the State and country. 

 There have been these pedigrees attached to them, and 

 the result has been that it has been pedigree, and nothing but 

 pedigree. Now, the pedigree does not amount to anything, 

 of itself ; but if you have a good animal first and then a good 

 pedigree, and if you breed those carefully and judiciously, 

 you will have results that will beat a grade cow every time. 

 But if you have got a Jersey sire and I have got a dam, and 

 we throw them together regardless of their characteristics, 

 you will have inferior animals ; you will perhaps have a 

 fine pedigree, but not a fine animal ; it will very likely be in- 

 ferior to some grade animals. I do not believe that a grade 

 cow is better than a pure-bred ; it is not according to my ex- 

 perience. If we cannot have pure-bred herds, let us have 

 the best we can get. I say, go to work and breed the very 

 best animals you can. It is a noble work. It requires care, 



