PREFACE 



The fact that full particulars of the formation and development 

 of a new breed of cattle in the last century are yet available is my 

 apology for presenting the following essay on the Heredity of Dual 

 Purpose Cattle as illustrated by the Eed Polled. In preparing the 

 facts and figures which are set forth in the narrative, I have been 

 fortunate in working upon a system of registration of pedigree unlike 

 any form that existed before the year 1874. The plan was feasible 

 from the fact that the Norfolk and Suffolk Polled Cattle were not 

 being bred outside the borders of the two counties. Also that it was 

 possible to glean evidence from men who had both seen and aided 

 in the interfusion of the old variety and the new; that had been skil- 

 fully evolved from the mixture of two types of cattle that had existed 

 in Norfolk from the olden time. 



That the new variety has won a permanent place in the world 

 is evidenced by the fact that while in 1874 there were only four Red 

 Polled Cattle in America, and these imported in the previous Decem- 

 ber, the issue of the American edition of the Herd Book, which con- 

 tains names, number, and pedigree of the cattle born in the year 

 ending December 31st, 1915, contains the register of Bulls 27083 to 

 28851, of Cows 40265 to 42651. At the close of the year 1889 there 

 were 132 bulls and 276 cows. In the following three years, when 

 American breeders had begun a co-operation of registration with the 

 British, the number had been increased by 849 bulls and 996 cows. 

 Of the total register in Vols. 7 to 18, the American registry was some 

 7,500 bulls and 9,000 cows. The Red Polled Cattle Club of America 

 had its separate register as from January, 1901, opening with the 

 bull register number 8909, cow register number 17878. There has 

 thus been an increase in the last fifteen years of Red Polled Cattle 

 in use in the United States (a very few only in the Dominion of Can- 

 ada) : Bulls 19,943, cows, 24,774. 



Professor C. H. Eckles, of Missouri, in his book on "Dairy Cattle 

 and Milk Production," says of the Red Polled in America: 



"They have won their way entirely by their merits, and 

 are increasing rapidly in those States where dual-purpose 

 cattle are in demand. They are the most typical and most 

 popular of the re'al dual-purpose breeds." 



Further evidence of the practical value of the breed as it has 

 spread abroad in the United States is seen in the pages now laid be- 

 fore the student of Farm Economics. The Cattle Club Directors, being 



