FAILURES IN ATTEMPTS TO IMPROVE 195 



The farmer is usually advised to purchase the best 

 male he can find and then practice rigid selection, if he 

 desires to improve his herd or flock. There is either 

 too much or too little in this brief recipe. The stream 

 cannot rise above its fountain-head. While the intro- 

 duction of a superior male into the herd may improve it 

 for a short time, eventually the average of the herd will 

 represent the powers for growth, development and 

 production which are found in the food, coupled with 

 environment, use and abuse. More than this, the herd, 

 in time, may actually fall below its environment and 

 food -supply, because of the introduction of the improved 

 blood; since it may take several generations before the 

 improved blood adapts itself to conditions less congenial 

 than were those in which it was produced. In earlier 

 years, many a farmer did introduce an improved male 

 into his herd, but did not improve the food and environ- 

 ment, and after a time found that no permanent advance 

 had been made. Not seeing the cause of his failure, he 

 condemned the breed to which the male introduced 

 belonged, by saying that it was a pampered, tender 

 breed for which he had no use. 



If the farmers who desired to improve their herds had 

 been told to select a male superior to the animals already 

 possessed, and to mingle his blood with selected females, 

 simultaneously improving food, care and environment, 

 and then to select from the offspring, permanent better- 

 ment would have been secured. After having learned 

 something in the school of experience of the methods 

 which must be followed to secure improvement, the 

 breeder would naturally seek to make use of a still 



