SELECTION 591 



Over against this the Dutch Belted Cattle, for example, have 

 an absolute color requirement. Every cow must first have a 

 white belt around her body. This certainly has nothing to do 

 with her milking abilities, yet the absurd specification has gone 

 into the very name of the breed, a fact that will keep the 

 breed materially behind its competitors in matters for which we 

 breed cows. 1 



The more clearly to show the extent of the handicap of 

 striving after many points in selection, let the student work it 

 out mathematically. If but one point is required, and it can be 

 satisfied, say in one tenth of the individuals, then the chances 

 of getting it are one in ten, and one tenth of the breed is 

 available. 



Now to this let us add a second requirement that can be 

 found in but one third of the individuals. The probability of 

 finding these two points in the same individual will then become 

 not y 1 ^ or J, but T ^ x \, or ^-, and only about three animals 

 in one hundred will meet the requirements. 



Need of reducing the requirements to the utility basis. In 

 fashionable animal breeding we have so multiplied our points 

 that we are no longer able to find any very large proportion of 

 them in any one individual, and we are often obliged to tolerate 

 positive evils in order to get the requirements even within the 

 limits of the herd. This is virtually mixed breeding. 



What is needed is a return to first principles, to select a 

 very limited number of the points most important from the 

 utility standpoint. Let these be so few and so pronounced that 

 they may all be found in every individual of the breeding herd. 

 Then later, as numbers multiply, other points can be added, a 

 few at a time, upon a practically pure ancestry so far as previous 

 points are concerned. " This one thing I do " should be worn in 

 the hat of every breeder. A little courage here would soon 

 work wonders ; but " points " have become so multiplied in some 

 of our breeds that all possibility of finding any individuals that 

 possess them all has long ago been passed, leaving us in a 



1 The writer hesitates to use as forceful language as the above regarding any 

 breed, because in general all breeds are good, but this is a step so clearly adverse 

 to live-stock interests that no language is too strong in condemnation. 



