INBREEDING. 87 



of, thus at once raising the average; then the 

 males of highest deviation upward are selected 

 to breed from, and under the idea that "like 

 produces like" we are justified in expecting a 

 further elevation of the average; and if a still 

 further selection is made on the same basis, 

 rejecting all bad and choosing only the best 

 males to breed from, the improvement should 

 be steady and should continue generation after 

 generation. But throughout this process the 

 tendency is by rejecting many inferior animals 

 to reduce greatly the number of animals taken 

 into our calculations. If we started after our 

 first rejection with only a few very choice ani- 

 mals we would soon be brought face to face 

 with the question as to whether we shall or 

 shall not practice breeding of closely-related 

 animals to each other. This is the exact prob- 

 lem which most improvers have had to solve 

 as a living, assertive question which could not 

 be evaded. 



A few cows being chosen, and the best obtain- 

 able bull used on them, in many cases phenom- 

 enal results were obtained. Now and again a 

 bull would turn up so superior as a breeder that 

 it would seem as if it were a step backward to 

 breed his get to any other bull except their sire 

 or one of their brothers. Improvers of a num- 

 ber of breeds found that this method fixed and 

 perpetuated the superior qualities which had 



