ANIMAL HUSBANDRY 307 



Scrub Stock. Animals whose ancestors belong to no distinct 

 breed are designated as scrubs. 



Graded Stock. Grading is the mating of a common inferior 

 animal or scrub parent with one that is highly improved. The 

 mating may be made either way, but it is more practical and 

 economical to have the male for the pure-bred parent. The 

 form, size, color, and useful qualities of the grade offspring gen- 

 erally approximate those of the pure-bred parent rather than 

 those of the scrub parent. If the sire is a pure-bred animal and 

 the female or dam is scrub stock, the individuals of the first 

 generation are called half-bloods or half-breeds. The offspring 

 resulting from the half-blood females and a pure-bred sire are 

 called three-fourths-breeds. When a half-breed sire is mated 

 with a scrub female, the resulting offspring is designated as a 

 quarter breed. The process of improving inferior animals by 

 breeding is designated as grading -up. When the process has 

 been continued until the resulting offspring are seven eighths 

 pure, they are designated as high grades. 



Crossing. When parents of two distinct breeds are mated, the 

 resulting offspring is known as a cross. If animals of two species 

 are mated, the offspring is a hybrid. Most hybrids are sterile, 

 and in that case further development of the hybrid type is impos- 

 sible. The mule is a common example of a sterile hybrid. It is 

 one of our most useful beasts of burden. 



Line breeding is the restriction of selection and mating to the 

 individuals of a single line of descent, 



Inbreeding is the breeding together of closely related individ- 

 uals like a sire and offspring or like a dam and offspring, etc. 

 It intensifies blood lines and makes the most of exceptional 

 individuals. 



QUESTIONS 



1. Discuss animal husbandry. 



2. Name the reasons for keeping domestic animals. 



3. Discuss animals in reference to (a) the soil, (6) the crops. 



4. Discuss animals as (a) eradicators of certain pests, (6) the beast of all 

 work. 



5. Name some of our food supplies that we owe to animals. 



6. Discuss animals and diversified farming. 



