22 Breeding Plants and Animals. 



no attention whatever to the thickness of meat on the 

 breast and legs. He illustrated how judging by fancy 

 points can be carried to a ridiculous extreme. Trot- 

 ting horse breeders, on the other hand, have held so 

 closely to trotting records that they have too often over- 

 looked comeliness, one of the most important character- 

 istics of the road horse. What is needed is breeding in 

 a formal way for the combination of intrinsic qualities, 

 artistic qualities and distinguishing points which will 

 yield the greatest value. The breeder must have a 

 broad, scientific plan and besides he must have a broad 

 mental attitude as an artist in breeding. 



The opportunities in animal breeding lie in com- 

 prehensive breeding and in recording performance rec- 

 ords which will greatly re-inforce pedigrees, as we or- 

 dinarily understand the term pedigree. The perfor- 

 mance basis of our pedigrees is now on too narrow a 

 plan in many instances. In case of some families of 

 special egg-producing chickens the only records claimed 

 to have a semblance of performance records are prizes 

 given cocks and hens by some judge who simply judged 

 their outward appearances and gave them a high record 

 because their "clothes" were of the same type as that 

 mentioned in a standard of excellence. Catch a trot- 

 ting horse breeder choosing a stallion for his mares be- 

 cause some judge had given him a blue ribbon on ac- 

 count of his neck and back being built right and be- 

 cause he was of a pretty color ! Yet too many of our 

 beef, swine and sheep pedigrees ha^e in them too little 

 which indicates the performing ability of the animals 

 besides the judgment of judges at shows. This point 

 would not be mentioned here if there were no remedy. 

 The writer recognizes fully the great value these prizes 

 have as a means of dispelling the indifference of farmers 

 to the value of really meritorious breeding stock. 

 There is not so much need of new breeds of animals, 

 as the term breeds is commonly used. But there is need 

 of improvement within the existing breeds and if im- 



