Pedigreed Animals and Plants. 33 



according to de Vries' theory, there is an occasional 

 Messenger among wild plants or among wild animals, 

 which dominates or is prepotent over all its fellows with 

 which it crosses and there is thus found a marked 

 variation, sometimes a new species, so peculiarly fitted 

 to survive that it supplants the parent form, or simply 

 lives beside it. And certainly this revolutionary phe- 

 nomenon is often observed in our cultivated plants. If 

 nature produces a peculiar and pretty chrysanthemum 

 some man is sure to save seeds from it. If it is prepo- 

 tent in its peculiarity or if it produces part of its pro- 

 geny of a peculiarly valuable type the gardener or 

 greenhouse man propagates the best, and possibly with 

 a single bound and that based on an accidental varia- 

 tion he distances his competitors in the flower trade 

 of a city and a new variety is born. 



Some of the great Short-horn and Hereford sires 

 have had a remarkable influence on the breed. Sup- 

 pose, as has been done in case of some new varieties of 

 wheat, an entire sub-breed could have been made up 

 of the blood of these best cattle. A new Short-horn 

 breed made up of the blood of those twenty individuals 

 of the breed having the greatest power to produce valu- 

 able cattle would be worth far more to the world than 

 is that splendid breed in its present form. How can 

 we eliminate the blood of the many less valuable in- 

 dividuals and secure in suitable combination the blood 

 of the few very best breeders in the whole breed and 

 multiply this blood to supply the entire country is the 

 great question. If the proof of the values of these best 

 animals was put into authentic figures, serving as per- 

 formance pedigrees, would their progeny not bring fab- 

 ulous prices. Tn this connection a remark made by Prof. 

 Curtiss recently, while showing me his experiment with 

 breeding blue-gray cattle, is worthy of repetition. He 

 said: "Sotham is a remarkable breeder. While it is 

 recognized J:hat the success of every noted breeder of 

 cattle has been based on the remarkable breeding ability 

 of one bull secured for his herd, Sotham has had two 



