21 



And thus after all is the one preeminent essential to snccess in 

 keeping swine and all other live stock on the farm. " A handsome 

 horse is always fat," "A cow milks by the mouth," and "you can't fat 

 a pig on boughten meal" are all particular applications of the gene- 

 ral rule, " There's two in the feed to one in the breed." 



With a profound respect for the accumulated power of transmis- 

 sion which comes from a long line of worthy ancestors, your com- 

 mittee has little sympathy with the superstitious reverence with which 

 many regard a thoroughbred. At periods more or less remote, prac- 

 tical men have devoted thought and effort to the improvement and 

 adaptation of different classes of stock to special or general purposes. 

 The means employed have usually been skill aiid judgment in the 

 selection and mating of animals for breeding, and increased care and 

 liberality in keeping and feeding. A certain character for uniformi- 

 ty and excellence having thus been established, a strain or breed is 

 created, and animals belonging to it come into demand at prices con- 

 siderably higher tlian ordinary market values. 



A stud book, herd book, or other record is formed for the registra- 

 tions of pedigrees, and all animals which can prove their descent 

 from a grade stock are recognized as thoroughbred. 



Hereafter the breed belongs more or less to the class of fancy 

 stock and is often valued more in proportion to its conformity to an 

 arbitrary standard of color, marking and appearance, than for the 

 useful properties which its founders aimed to produce and perpetuate. 



Other evils are incident to the system ; such as the raising and 

 keeping of inferior specimens because the breed is in demand, the 

 temptation to excessive in-breeding, to manufacture pedigrees, to 

 keep animals in a forced and unnatural condition, and to make false 

 or exaggerated statements as to their merits and performances. 



But even without reference to these hypothetical drawbacks, the 

 word " thoroughbred " neither creates nor certifies any personal ex- 

 cellence or proHtahleness ; but merely that an animal's qualities such 

 as they are, are hereditary, and are therefore more likely to be trans- 

 mitted to its posterity than if the animal itself was of common or 

 mixed descent. In these remarks we do not wish to lead anyone to 

 underrate the value of a good pedigree ; but rather to point out the 

 still higher importance of each breeder understanding what he wants, 

 and striving to produce animals adapted to the conditions he provides 

 and the objects he has in view. All agree that swine should be kept 

 well fed, healthy, and comfortable : but the metiiods of accomplish- 



