156 CATTLE-BREEDING. 



first-class animals." "Undoubtedly/' adds Mr. 

 Bell, "many Short-horn cattle, by in-and-in 

 breeding and high feeding and training, did 

 become diseased." It is sufficiently evident 

 from these statements that Mr. Bates did not 

 regard the choosing of an animal of close rela- 

 tionship a universal recipe for good calves, but 

 on the contrary as a dangerous thing to try; 

 that he thought such a choice might be made 

 " within certain limits/' provided great care and 

 judgment were exercised in the choice. The 

 elements of such a choice, too, are not a few; 

 the bulls chosen to make the cross must be 

 "descended from first-class animals," and the 

 cows not less so; bulls, too, of "as good or su- 

 perior blood" with the cows which were un- 

 related to them must be attainable. Unless 

 these conditions are fulfilled the promised end 

 is "ruin and devastation." Truly this is far 

 enough from a belief that there was any ben- 

 efit to be gained by the mere act of inbreeding, 

 or from any idea that there dwelt in "concen- 

 tration of blood" some mystic and mysterious 

 spell which worked a marvel in the produce. 

 Mr. Bates was undoubtedly a man of preju- 

 dices, but he was a true and successful thinker 

 and breeder, and he looked fairly and squarely 

 at the problems with which he had to deal, and 

 dealt with them honestly if with varying suc- 

 cess. 



