n6 Breeding Plants and Animals. 



dairy type results in the opposite of uniformity, with 

 an average dual efficiency too often far below the point 

 of profit. Radical hybridizing is practical in extensive 

 long-continued scientific operations in experiments in 

 breed or variety formation, but not usually in the prac- 

 tical breeding for immediate production, which plant 

 breeders will call breed growing, though there are ex- 

 ceptions, as in the case of breeding mutton rams from 

 the lowlands on the hardy upland ewes of Scotland. 



"Buying good milkers of mixed breeding and 

 breeding on them bulls of the beef type to pro- 

 duce steers*' may be a good policy for the occa- 

 sional dairy farmer who is a shrewd buyer, but as it 

 requires that the producers of these cows shall have 

 bred large numbers of unprofitable ones to secure the 

 occasional one suited to the needs of the shrewd dairy- 

 man, it is poor general or public policy. It is hard on 

 the ether fellow. The entire problem rests on the ques- 

 tion as to whether a practicable plan to produce dual- 

 purpose pure-bred cattle can be devised and not on 

 whether they are desired or needed on hundreds of 

 thousands of farms. By what method can milking 

 Short-horns, Red Polls, Devons or common cattle be 

 so improved that they will fill the want ? Or can a plan 

 be devised under which we can form new breeds of the 

 desired type by hybridizing existing kinds ? 



Possibly the best basis for forming a new breed of 

 this kind can be found among our common cattle. 



