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248 CATTLE-BREEDING. 



their supreme popularity; but I confess to look- 

 ing on them with the eye with which a lover 

 regards his mistress. While I have owned and 

 bred other cattle, most of my experience has 

 been gained from the breeding of Short-horns. 

 Nevertheless most of the following pages have 

 a general application; wherever the contrary is 

 the case I will mark the particular application. 

 Having selected the kind of cattle which are 

 to be bred, the next step is the selection of suit- 

 able individuals. This is no easy task in any 

 case, and if the number is to be small and the 

 amount of money to be expended in their pur- 

 chase very limited the difficulty is much greater. 

 Two things need to be very rigidly insisted upon, 

 and unless they are the beginning will be alto- 

 gether bad, and the result must of necessity be 

 disappointing. The essentials of an improved 

 breed which give it superior excellence beyond 

 unimproved stock are individual merit and the 

 guaranty, by virtue of long descent through 

 other animals of like merit, that they will pro- 

 duce similarly good stock; that is, pedigree. 

 Hence, individual merit and good pedigree are 

 the two things to be looked for and insisted on 

 in making purchases of breeding stock. Want- 

 ing either of these the stock should be rejected 

 without a second thought. It does not matter 

 how good the stock is, if the pedigree is de- 

 ficient do not touch it; nor how admirable the 



