82 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



demonstrate in a practical way that my views are good, sen- 

 sible, practical views. There are various ways of doing this 

 crossing, but, on the basis of the investigations that we have 

 available up to this time, it has been pretty well demonstrated 

 that the crossing of two distinct breeds l^eyond one genera- 

 tion is almost always detrimental, and results in setting free 

 in the system of the individual following the third genera- 

 tion, and so on, characteristics and qualities which can be 

 traced back twenty-five or fifty years or so. No ; there is 

 only one case in my mind where a cross-breeding of a breed 

 is justifiable, and that is where you are crossing it with the 

 butcher. 



I have had the pleasure of seeing the dairy herds in a gen- 

 eral way in that part of the country which lies east of the 

 Mississippi River, from the Gulf up to the Canadian line, 

 and I have made some very extensive trips among the herds 

 and flocks of Great Britain, spending a great deal of time 

 among: the farmers and stock. The difference between the 

 United States and Great Britain is a very striking one in the 

 character of the stock which they have. You can start out 

 from London on the train, and as you go out, the first thing 

 you know you are in a new country, apparently, in the mat- 

 ter of stock. You find yourself in the Ayrshire country, 

 and 3^ou see scarcely anything but Ayrshires, and what they 

 call store cattle, for the butcher. You go down on the 

 islands, and they all evidently breed only pure-bred animals, 

 like the Jersey on the Island of Jersey, and the Guernsey 

 on the Island of Guernsey. You go down to Hereford, 

 Eng., and you see nothing but Herefords. You go down 

 to Devonshire, and you see nothing but Devons. You go 

 up to Scotland, and you see nothing but Shorthorns. And 

 these are all })ure bred. As you go over that countr}^ you 

 cannot l)ut be impressed by the fact that the breeders there 

 have very fixed ideas of the importance of unifying a type 

 of breeding. 



But how is it in this country ? You can take the Boston 

 & Albany Railroad, and go west, and if you don't see more 

 styles and colors of cattle than you can find anywhere else 

 in the world, — and I don't care how far west you go, — 



