58 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. 



cattle, sheep, or swine, have been resorted to 

 by them. In-breeding and pampering have 

 both been frowned upon. Selection of the 

 stoutest and best specimens of the breed has 

 been the touchstone of their success. Once in 

 and twice out has been as near an approach to 

 in-breeding as has ever found favor among 

 them; hence we find the thoroughbred horse of 

 to-day the superior of all the other representa- 

 tives of the equine race in speed and endur- 

 ance. 



It appears evident that if the laws of heredity 

 are as I have here stated that is: that the ten- 

 dency of in-breeding with established races or 

 breeds is to weaken the vital forces, and that 

 cross-breeding gives increased vigor and vital- 

 ity we have an explanation of why the gen- 

 eral farmer finds it most profitable to raise 

 grade or cross-bred stock for the dairy or for 

 feeding purposes. The purely-bred races or 

 breeds, as a rule, have been perfected to a 

 wonderful degree in certain qualities; and when 

 the general farmer, desiring to improve his 

 flocks and herds in any of these particulars, 

 procures a purely-bred male to use as a sire, 

 even though such animal may be suffering 

 some of the bad effects of in-breeding himself, 

 the excellence that characterizes the breed to 

 which he belongs, reinforced and reinvigorated 

 by contact with the current of fresh blood that 



