GRADE BREEDING. 207 



thoroughbred cattle is approximately as one 

 to fifty. That is, only one bull is required for 

 every fifty cows. From such a conclusion in 

 the abstract we would think that a bull would 

 be worth one-fiftieth as much as a cow. But 

 we bethink ourself of the demand for market 

 beef and we conclude with this additional idea 

 in our minds that every bull if steered would 

 lie worth as much as a first-class steer at mar- 

 ket rates. So we would expect the value of 

 the cows to be regulated by the demand for 

 thoroughbred breeding purposes, and that of 

 the bulls to be about one-fiftieth of that, or the 

 market price of steers, whichever was highest.* 

 But we discovered in our study of the laws of 

 animal prepotency that a breed deeply bred in a 

 fixed type was prepotent over a heterogeneous 

 or native type. And so the breeder of mere mar- 

 ket cattle, being anxious to attain the highest 

 market price for his stock, is driven by keen com- 

 petition to seek to improve his stock. The de- 

 mand he has to meet does not justify him if he 

 is a breeder of market cattle in buying at an 

 outlay of thousands of dollars thoroughbred 

 stock, however desirable. But as a thorough- 

 bred bull begets animals greatly resembling 

 himself he is justified in buying such a bull 

 and using him on his common stock. Here, 



* There is really another element which sometimes occurs in such a 

 case to alter the value, but it is not important in the present discussion. 



