PEDIGREE. 233 



trouble for themselves. It is often a very small 

 rock that wrecks a very noble ship. 



The beginner must make up his mind to take 

 up pedigree after pedigree and look up every 

 bull by number, taking the top cross and going 

 through each cross in each bull's pedigree; 

 make up his mind to forget again and again 

 what he looked up, for pedigrees are most diffi- 

 cult to remember; to be perplexed, discouraged, 

 everything but deflected from his purpose. 

 After many trials and tribulations he will dis- 

 cover some day that he does remember some- 

 thing, and may perhaps be saved from an un- 

 wise purchase by his knowledge. Then he will 

 begin to see that such knowledge has a cash 

 value. Then a great many think that because 

 they know something they know it all. In a 

 short time they will find that a little knowledge 

 is a very dangerous thing. If they stop and do 

 not prosecute their studies it were better for 

 them that they had never learned anything. 

 If, however, they press on, after a time the 

 detection of the contents of pedigrees becomes 

 almost a second nature, so familiar do certain 

 landmarks become. And there is nothing so 

 valuable to the breeder as a perfect mastery 

 of the pedigrees of the breed he is devoted to. 

 Few ever become masters of this department, 

 and if one wishes to do so the study must be 

 begun in early life. Young breeders will do 



