CROSS BREEDING. 191 







nent method. Was there to be a constant and 

 continuous interfusion of the blood of two or 

 more breeds, or were the results of the first 

 series of crosses to be made the basis of a new 

 breed, or was the cross to be introduced merely 

 as an occasional remedy for some particular 

 fault which, once done, the regular line of the 

 breed upon which the cross was made would 

 be returned to? 



The first of these methods lacks any motive 

 for its adoption, and is too little susceptible of 

 systematization to seriously attract any prac- 

 tical breeder who aims to attain a real improve- 

 ment. The second was naturally a favorite 

 with many of the more ambitious experiment- 

 ers, but the verdict of posterity seems to be 

 that in most animals the effort to keep up a 

 breed formed by intercrossing any two given 

 breeds, where no other method was used in 

 conjunction with it, has not been especially 

 successful save in a very few cases, which are 

 notable rather as exceptions than as antago- 

 nistic facts. It is to be kept in mind that this 

 is not meant to cover such cases as those in 

 which a special quality has been obtained by 

 means of a cross and perpetuated by resort to 

 the Bakewell methods. The line of distinction 

 lies in the method of selection chiefly. In one 

 case the basis of the selection consists of all 

 animals which are cross bred in a particular 



