386 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



bad, the mischief has already been done. The difference in 

 value between good and poor bulls is much wider than is 

 commonly believed. Even in getting bob or veal calves 

 there may easily be a difference of from 50 cents to $2 per 

 head in what they are worth, amounting to from $20 to $100 

 in a year's service. If, however, a bull is destined to be the 

 sire of heifers to replenish the herd, those from a good bull 

 are worth at maturity from $10 to $25 per head more than 

 those from a scrub. In four years' service this may amount 

 to from $-100 to $1,000, even in a grade herd, and easily 

 warrant an outlay of from $200 to $500 for a young sire of 

 superior merit. Yery well-bred and promising young bulls 

 may be bought at from $50 to $100 apiece, and it is poor 

 husbandry to pass such chances by to purchase scrub stock. 



An acquaintance told me a short time ago that he was 

 done buying cheap bulls. He had had abortion, impotcncy 

 and other troubles enough. He had just paid $23 for a really 

 good service bull. It reminded me of the colored man who 

 bought a horse for 75 cents, which died on the way home. 

 He remarked, "I'll hab a good hors nex' time, if it cost foah 

 dollars." It is not good husbandry to support a low-grade 

 bull. It will pay even an ordinary grade breeder to keep 

 an animal worth $100. 



Some attention must be paid in selection to correcting 

 the defects of the other sex. Pedigree should count, but 

 individual merit counts more. The value of pedigree 

 depends mainly upon the character of the immediate ances- 

 tors. Excellence in remote ancestors, interesting and de- 

 sirable though it is, must not be allowed to cover up 

 deficiencies in parents or grandparents. Much conjuring is 

 done with the names of great ancestors who would doubt- 

 less be ashamed to own some of the descendants now claim- 

 ing their ancestry. There is also a prepotency in some 

 individuals that clothes them with unusual power to stamp 

 their qualities on their get. This is partly the effect of 

 pure breeding, but it is only an occasional sire that mani- 

 fests it strongly. When such a sire is found, he should be 

 duly prized, and retained in service as long as possible, 



