CROSS BREEDING. 201 



ment of cross breeding has been found to yield 

 such excellent results that it is likely long to 

 remain the popular process of bettering the 

 character of market cattle. It is still more un- 

 likely that any combination of existing breeds 

 will be made for the purpose of producing a 

 new distinct breed. The various breeds have 

 attained so high a state of excellence in dif- 

 ferentiation and adaptation to the ends for 

 which they are in demand, while the Short- 

 horn still maintains in such a high degree its 

 excellence as a general-purpose beast for the 

 farmer, that men are not likely to be distracted 

 from slow but sure improvement of these highly 

 improved breeds in a "vain, or at best a long, 

 slow, and unpromising attempt to reach an end 

 already sufficiently attained. 



The interest, then, for the cattle-breeder in 

 cross breeding is largely historical and moni- 

 tory. In it he sees a system one highly 

 esteemed and fully tried; one capable in wise 

 hands of producing some good, but in the main 

 tending rather to no permanent good result. 



