J-SO Breeding Plants and Animals. 



be chosen and the blood of the one best parent or of 

 a group of those breeding strongest would prevail. 

 Breeding Percherons on a large scale on these farms 

 would not injure the business of Percheron breeding 

 elsewhere. It would emphasize the breed,^ furnish 

 stallions highly accredited in centgener breeding val- 

 ue and would otherwise aid in - placing draft horse 

 breeding on a permanent basis. 



An occasional large country estate instead of only 

 farms of 160 acres might have a good excuse for its 

 existence if its owners would make it serve the general 

 welfare. The large farm has great advantages in breed- 

 ing operations, because large numbers can be used. The 

 Continental German Coach Horse Co. of South Da- 

 kota, for example, with 3,500 head of pure-bred and 

 grade German Coach horses on its ranch could soon 

 outdo the Germans in producing high-priced stallions 

 of this breed as w r ell as make much money out of 

 matched teams and single drivers for the wealthiest 

 city customers. The large number of stallions this 

 company requires would soon enable the owners to se- 

 lect those whose get averages a large number of high- 

 priced individuals. The necessary system for marking 

 the sires and the dams, for recording the values of the 

 progeny of each parent, and for averaging so as to se- 

 cure the relative breeding values of each parent could 

 be worked out much easier than might seem. The 

 stallion placed on the ranch with his consorts retains his 

 harem (or bunch of mares) and defends it against all 

 interference during the season. Such careful records 

 would pay on a ranch of this size simply for the larger 

 number of high-priced drivers which would be pro- 

 duced, and the possible sale of breeding animals at long 

 figures would be added clear profit. 



Graduates of the right kind of a breeding school 

 would be valuable employes of a firm with the possibil- 

 ities of such a business. Records of the breeding of 

 bronchos may seem a little far fetched, but who has 

 such a rich opportunity for high-class breeding as the 



