208 CATTLE-BREEDING. 



then, is the great source of demand which keeps 

 the demand for thoroughbred beef bulls closely 

 equal and sometimes above that of the females. 

 The philosophy of grading rests on the most 

 solid basis of theory and experiment. The 

 scientifically deduced conclusions from the 

 laws of heredity, especially of prepotency, giv.e 

 the highest probability that the offspring of a 

 high-bred bull and a native cow will resemble 

 the bull, and that if this produce is bred back 

 to a high-bred bull and the process continued 

 for a few generations the animals resulting 

 from this course of breeding will be rapidly 

 assimilated to the highly-bred type. To these 

 conclusions practical experiment lends the full- 

 est confirmation. I have bred many grades, 

 many more have been bred under my imme- 

 diate observation, and I can witness, more es- 

 pecially in the case of Short-horn grades, to the 

 rapidity with which the process of assimilation 

 goes on. As it has been said that bulls vary 

 greatly in prepotency, so also in individual ex- 

 cellence, we would naturally expect great vari- 

 ation in the excellence attained by grading 

 with different bulls. I have already alluded to 

 a phenomenal case of a first cross by the bull 

 Renick on a brindled milch cow; such cases are 

 naturally rare. The second and third crosses 

 on good native cows by really good Short-horn 

 bulls almost always yield animals which even 



