56 HORSE SENSE. 



blood introduced into the breeding of her antecedents, that will be a 

 damage in the results to be attained; "as the sins of the fathers shall be 

 visited to the third and fourth generations." 



PARALLEL BLOOD LINES. 



By parallel blood lines we have reference to those bred in the same 

 general family or of the same type of animals. In other words, adhere 

 as closely to the desirable family characteristics, as is possible for the 

 best results. Cross-breeding must be condemned as impracticable in this 

 age of improvement. We must make as few mistakes as the development 

 of the science of breeding will permit. With all the care we can be- 

 stow, there will be more or less culling to be done from time to time, to 

 keep up the standard of excellence that should be desired. 



IN-BREEDING. 



While we do not strongly advocate in-breeding, we are strongly op- 

 posed to cross-breeding. No true type of animals can be maintained by 

 cross-breeding; on the other hand, all types of animals have been made 

 and maintained, by strictly adhering to the best selections of the same 

 family, as is borne out in the investigations of the improvements of our 

 best breeders. If we want draft horses we must adhere to the principle 

 of breeding only typical draft mares to our best draft stallions, road 

 mares to our best trotting stallions; coachers to the type of stallions that 

 will bring us coachers, etc., etc., etc. 



HAP-HAZARD BREEDING. 



The hap-hazard breeding that has been going on for many years, 

 makes it imperative, that every breeder, making a choice of brood-mares, 

 should use the utmost care in his selections for any class, to prevent 

 getting just what he may be trying to avoid in the offspring he is aiming 

 to produce. Blood and good quality will tell at every breeding, and an 

 undesirable infusion, is possible to give you an amount of trouble, that 

 many years of painstaking will not enable you to eradicate. In breed- 

 ing stock, mdividual excellence in connection with the best inherited 

 characters, is, of course, desirable in all cases; but, when it is impossible 

 to secure this combination of cjualities, the breeder should not lose sight 

 of the fact that the greatest perfection in the individual, will not com- 

 pensate for ancestral defects that have been frequently repeated, as the 

 latter will in all probability have a predominant influence upon the ofif- 

 spring. 



THE BROOD MARE IN RELATION TO THE STALLION TO 

 BE USED. 



After the selection of the brood-mare for the purpose designed, then 

 an equally important choice is the selection of the stallion to which she 

 is to be bred. Remember that absolutely perfect mares or stallions in 

 every particular is the next thing to an impossibility; hence to improve 

 in the offspring, is to select a stallion that is certainly strong in any par- 

 ticular in which the mare may be wanting. If both have weaknesses of 



