194 IMPORTANCE OF PEDIGREE. 



the present, to guide us to the future. To desire to 

 build upon the present alone, regardless of the past, 

 is as wise as it would be for the architect to build his 

 stone house without attending to the nature of the 

 foundation upon which it is placed. 



We think the lack of knowledge of the ancestry 

 of choice animals imported from abroad, occasions 

 the frequent observation, that their progeny is inferior 

 to themselves. The young, with which they often 

 come laden, may be superior to the mother, and not 

 uncommonly are of fine quality, but the produce of 

 the American breeding is a disappointment. The 

 valuable imported animal is thus shorn of a part 

 of his value when put into strangers' hands. It is 

 therefore rarely the case that the much-praised for- 

 eign animal quite fulfils expectations, when moved 

 from his native neighborhood and put to breeding. 

 At home, acquaintance with its pedigree, the animals 

 that enter into it, with their merits, defects, and 

 tendency to the cropping out of particular traits, is 

 put to practical use. 



To realize, in its fulness, the idea of a pedigree, 

 would be to bring into array before us the living 

 animals, and sun-portraits of the deceased ancestry. 

 To realize the idea of a Herd Book in its fulness, 

 would require that there be introduced in the volume 

 the sun-portrait of every animal named ; and the 

 naming of all animals without any omission for many 

 generations. It is well to carry this ideal in our 

 minds, and, rejecting what is manifestly impractica- 

 ble, realize all we can. 



