Carver County Poland Chinas. 135 



and the very best males of the original purchase could 

 thus be retained from among the many and brought 

 together and made the foundation animals. The ex- 

 ploration for superior foundation animals might also 

 be continued. The year's experience in mating, rear- 

 ing and testing and the acquaintance gained by seek- 

 ing the original foundation stock would all be of as- 

 sistance in knowing how to secure other blood lines 

 from the outside. Experience might prove that thou- 

 sands rather than hundreds of foundation animals 

 should be secured and their powers as breeders tested. 

 In preliminary work in selecting foundation individ- 

 uals, parents of breeds or varieties in breeding hogs as 

 well as in breeding wheat or timothy, large numbers 

 must be tested and all but the very highest in breeding 

 value or "projected efficiency" discarded. Here more 

 than half the battle will be won in securing from 

 among the myriads of Poland-Chinas in America those 

 which are best. By mere inspection, inquiring of 

 breeders, examining herd records of performance, by 

 learning of the patrons and neighbors of the value of 

 the stock of breeders who contest for the honor of hav- 

 ing the association try their hogs, can the largest part 

 of the elimination be done. And this is cheaper if done 

 for the first rougher selections, thus avoiding so much 

 of the feeding and abattoir laboratory tests mentioned.. 

 The writer has added 45 per cent to the height of com- 

 mon flax bred for fiber, and a lesser amount to the 

 yield of other varieties bred from the same foundation! 

 varieties but bred for seed instead of fiber. Four-fifths 

 of this increase, in case of the fiber, at least, was added 

 by the first year's work of selection, in securing the 

 few tallest from fields of immense numbers of plants 

 and at almost no expense. The addition of the other- 

 one-fifth of the increased height was added by severai 

 years of careful plant breeding in the nursery and at 

 considerable expense. The original selection of found- 

 ation stock offers the greatest opportunity for making 



