io6 Breeding Plants and Animals. 



he had something the purchaser of stock needed would 

 win a credit jor his herd larger than a State fair prize. 

 The methods of breeding which would be devised by 

 such organizations assisted by experiment station offi- 

 cers and by other especially employed men would be 

 useful to all breeders. Once the association came into 

 the market with bulls and heifers of accredited merit, 

 the private breeder would have a source from which 

 to secure male and female foundation stock which would 

 soon give credit to his own herd. He could keep more 

 careful records than now, possibly under public in- 

 spection, and would have the confidence of the public 

 more thoroughly than now. The general diffusion of 

 better cattle would give an increasing market among 

 farmers for registered stock. 



If the general plan here proposed succeeded else- 

 where the private breeder might find it practical to aid 

 in forming a breeders' association in his own county. 

 One county would not sit idly by and see another se- 

 cure State aid for inspectors and it receive nothing. 

 Possibly the State for self-protection might find it nec- 

 essary to limit the aid supplied to one county, as by as- 

 suming to help with only one or two breeds or by limit- 

 ing the amount of expenditure allowed by any one 

 county for all breeds. In many cases large breeders 

 would be able successfully to compete with the pro- 

 posed associations in the market for the choicest breed- 

 ing stocks, as they have the advantage of a more cen- 

 tralized management with longer tenure of office of 

 those in charge than could be expected in an associa- 

 tion. 



Once such associations became well established, and 

 ready to offer superior breeding animals backed by per- 

 formance pedigrees, private breeders would have a new 

 source of bulls to head their herds. Such counties 

 would be. to the breeder what Durham and surrounding 

 counties in England have been to Short-horn breeders 

 everywhere. In fact, these associations might be able 

 to discount England as a source of superior blood. 



