592 PRACTICAL PROBLEMS 



wellnigh hopeless jumble, with pedigrees meaning next to nothing 

 so far as definite information goes. 



Importance of pedigree. Enough has been shown to point 

 clearly to the fact that the simply " good individual " is worth- 

 less as a breeder. 1 He must be the product of a good ancestry, 

 and moreover of the right kind of good ancestry. It is not 

 enough that the animal or plant is not mixed in its blood. We 

 ought to know, and our pedigrees ought to show, what were the 

 special characters of the ancestors. There is yet so much 

 variability in all our breeds that a simple guaranty of non- 

 infusion of outside blood is not enough. Something positive is 

 needed, and great success awaits the breed whose breeders will 

 take a few points at a time and establish a double registry, one of 

 which shall be a record of the degree in which the individual 

 actually possessed the dominant characters of the breed. If the 

 " advanced registry " of some of the dairy breeds can be safe- 

 guarded against abuses, and then be used as a basis for selection, 

 it will be of untold benefit to the breeds and to the country at 

 large. 



SECTION IV RATIONAL SELECTION 



When and to what extent to depart from safe general prin- 

 ciples on account of economic or other considerations is a matter 

 calling for the most discriminating judgment. 



Fancy points. It is perfectly easy to show that if the breeder 

 succeeds in fixing really useful characters he will have his hands 

 more than full ; and yet, despite all this, fashion constantly sets 

 certain fancy points, and insists upon their observance. The 

 trouble is not only that most of these fancy points have little or 

 no utility, but also that, like any other caprice of fashion, they 

 are likely to change frequently and without warning, whereas 

 all considerations of selection require constancy and simplicity. 



What, then, shall the breeder do ? He is bent upon building 

 up a herd of the highest practical value, and he has carefully 

 weighed the relative value of all utilitarian characters. All of a 



1 The regression table clearly shows that an inferior individual from a good 

 ancestry is in every way superior to a perfect individual from a heterogeneous 

 ancestry. Both are evils, but of the two the latter is by far the worse. 



