82 CATTLE-BREEDING. 



the sum of the hopes and expectations of a 

 large majority of breeders; and we shall see in 

 the course of this study that the principal value, 

 as breeding cattle, of thoroughbred* varieties 

 is that by having been long bred to a definite 

 standard they have attained a fixed type from 

 which they rarely depart, and may in conse- 

 quence be trusted to "breed true," and also 

 that the fundamental idea of "pedigree" is a 

 guarantee of fixedness of character with a high 

 standard. 



The breeder next advances to the law of pre- 

 potency, and applies it principally by seeking 

 an animal possessed of it for the head of the 

 herd, thus endeavoring to fix his good qualities 

 on all of the produce of the herd. In choosing 

 a breeding bull no wise breeder can afford to 

 neglect a careful study of his capacity as a 

 breeder. A fine animal of high prepotent in- 

 fluence is one of those rare discoveries which 

 go to make men successful above their fellows; 

 and the advent of such a lord into the harem 

 is oftentimes an epoch-making event. 



The average breeder has little to do with 

 atavism in practice except in a negative way, 

 for while he may meet frequent instances in 

 which it will show itself, it is not regular in its 

 action and cannot be embraced in any calcula- 

 tions for the future. 



*I use this word in the sense now eo commonly given to it of purely bred. 



