600 PRACTICAL PROBLEMS 



The third purpose in breeding is not to improve anything, 

 but to secure something entirely new, different from, and pre- 

 sumably better than, any previously existing strains. In carrying 

 out this purpose the breeder proceeds upon the assumption that 

 our varieties are too few ; that gaps exist which may be filled up ; 

 and that it is better to produce something new than to de- 

 pend upon improving the old. This is the most ambitious of all 

 forms of breeding, and appeals to creative genius rather than 

 to conservative business instincts, which incline to improve- 

 ment of existing races rather than to the production of new ones. 

 Naturally it is most common in plant breeding, in which numbers 

 are not so serious a matter, and in which breeding operations are 

 less expensive. 



As has been remarked, these three purposes in breeding are 

 entirely distinct. These distinctions should be clearly in the 

 mind of the student when studying systems of breeding, and the 

 breeder himself must be in no sense uncertain as to which one 

 is really in his mind when he begins his breeding operations. 

 If his purpose is to improve his own, let him frankly admit it 

 to himself and proceed accordingly, leaving high prices and 

 hazardous enterprises to others. If, on the other hand, he 

 hopes to do something distinctive for his breed, and is satisfied 

 that he has the money and the patience to do it, then again his 

 purpose is clear cut and his methods are well indicated. 



All breeding expensive except herd improvement. 1 All forms 

 of breeding are costly whenever the purpose is to produce some- 

 thing better than ever before. If the purpose is only to multi- 

 ply excellence, then it is comparatively cheap, but the original 

 production of excellence, which is breeding in the highest 

 sense of the term, is relatively expensive, because so few 

 individuals, plant or animal, excel either their predecessors or 

 their contemporaries, and so few of these can propagate their 

 own excellence. 



With these considerations in mind it is worth while to get a 

 clear idea of the different systems of breeding available for the 

 various purposes. 



1 " Herd improvement " is an expression used in reference to the home stock, 

 whether plant or animal. 



