PAST AS INFLUENCING PRESENT. 193 



was with one family, the Quartlys, who gave them 

 reputation, and who have kept the lead since ; and 

 in 1850 two neighbors had kept up this breed in their 

 families for more than a hundred years. 2 A large 

 number of the Devon breed in America have traceable 

 lineage to well-known animals, prize-takers wherever 

 shown. The history of this stock bespeaks the value 

 of antiquity of pedigree, but it is the same with every 

 breed that has had as full opportunities of develop- 

 ment. Commonly the most valued Ayrshires in Scot- 

 land have most length of traceable pedigree. It is 

 not always the last mating, but often a mating sev- 

 eral removes back, that the Scotch breeders refer to ; 

 and he who remembers this and subsequent matings, 

 is likely to be among the winners at the fairs so 

 much in favor with them ; and if one looks over the 

 premium lists for many years, the chances are he 

 will find that of the careful breeders, the oldest win 

 most frequently when the competition lies between 

 animals bred by the owners. 



These statements and considerations are calculated 

 to impress upon us, appreciation of the importance of 

 a knowledge of pedigree. It matters little whether 

 we have a mixed breed, common cattle, or the thor- 

 ough-bred. The same need of regarding the ances- 

 try exists. If we would have much assurance of 

 what nature of cattle we may have from our breed- 

 ing herd ten years hence, we require to know much 

 of the ancestry of the animals that formed the herd 

 for the ten years past. For we rely on the past, with 



2 Jour. R. A. S. of Eng. 1850, p. 681. 



