35 



offspring in the first generation are nearly intermediate between 

 their parents ; but the grandchildren and succeeding genera- 

 tions continually revert, in greater or less degree, to one or 

 both of their progenitors." 



" With cross breeds, the act of crossing in itself certainly 

 leads to the recovery of long lost characters, as well as of those 

 derived from either parent-form." 



In speaking of latent characters he observes, — " we can thus 

 understand how, for instance, it is possible for a good milking 

 cow to transmit her good qualities through her male offspring 

 to future generations ; for we may confidently believe that 

 these qualities are present, though latent, in the males of each 

 generation." 



Agassiz has stated that " Children are not only the children 

 of their father and mother, but they are the children of their 

 grandfathers and grandmothers ; they are the children of the 

 generations preceding them, so much so that it is a well estab- 

 lished fact that very often children resemble their grandparents 

 more than they resemble their parents." 



Thus we see the importance of a good pedigree and the 

 value of a pure-bred ancestry. In my own experience, a case 

 of apparent reversion has occurred in breeding Essex swine, 

 although I had good authority for believing that all my animals 

 were descended from perfectly pure-bred stock, yet in a litter 

 of eight pigs one was white with black spots, the others were 

 entirely black. As the improved Essex is supposed to have 

 some infusion of Chinese blood, this would seem a probable 

 instance of breeding back to the black and white Chinese hog. 



Prepotency is a subject which should receive the careful 

 consideration of every farmer who, although not a breeder of 

 thorough-breds, is a raiser of stock. On this point Law 

 expresses his views so well that I shall quote liberally. " Pre- 

 potency is less frequently the prerogative of the individual 

 than of the breed which has been bred long and carefully to a 

 particular type. Hence the great value of short-horns and 

 other pure races in imparting to other breeds, with which they 

 may be crossed, their own qualities to a proportionately greater 



