24 Breeding Plants and Animals. 



all within that breed which is now nearest the desired 

 type by mere breed improvement or to make the effort 

 by hybridizing two or more kinds. It may be that ef- 

 forts along two or more parallel lines should be made. 

 The expense is too large and the goal is too great to 

 stop short of the best way. While crossing breeds is 

 generally thought poor policy in upgrading or in grow- 

 ing stock for market the experimenter must not be too 

 fearful of new things. 



The first point to investigate is that relating to 

 disease resistance. In plant breeding rapid strides are 

 being made to secure wheat that better resists rust, 

 cotton that resists cotton blight and grapes which resist 

 phyloxera. It is well known that some individual hogs 

 resist cholera entirely and that others have only light 

 attacks. Can we not find individuals whose progeny 

 will be nearly immune? Who has records along this 

 line? Do the litters from certain sows show greater 

 ability to resist cholera than litters from other sows? 

 The writer would like to correspond now or in the 

 future with persons ,who have evidence that some fami- 

 lies of hogs are more nearly immune from cholera or 

 rheumatism than others. This is a matter worthy of 

 wide inquiry and investigation. This might be a most 

 fruitful line of research for the Bureau of Animal In- 

 dustry at Washington in its highly important experi- 

 ments -with swine diseases. A small fraction of the 

 money now lost from hog cholera if spent in breeding 

 cholera-proof hogs might possibly greatly lessen the 

 disease. 



The second point for investigation is concerning the 

 proportion of lean meat or the thickness of the muscu- 

 lar covering over the bones and the quality of the meat. 

 This seems even a bolder proposition than determining 

 the power of disease resistance. It is hardly less im- 

 portant. Lean meat is what justifies high prices, and 

 pedigree records showing that a breed or family of hogs 

 had a high percentage of lean meat would give a basis 

 for high prices for breeding animals. If the breed were 



