SELECTION OF BREEDING ANIMALS. 249 



pedigree, if the stock have not personal merit 

 a good pedigree is the worst of delusions. The 

 two things must go together. There is no mid- 

 dle ground; no room for compromise. 



Nor is it difficult to find the right kind of 

 stock among any of the well-recognized breeds. 

 There are an abundance of cattle having the 

 essentials insisted on. If this were not so they 

 would not be slow in passing out of existence, 

 or at least out of popularity. The excellence 

 demanded is no fancy marking or series of 

 markings; no white ear lobes, or feathered legs, 

 or accurately defined markings, such as are 

 valued among what are sometimes called "pet, 

 or fancy stock/' fowls, pigeons, etc. True some 

 may reject a Short-horn bull because he has as 

 much white on him as red, or a Hereford be- 

 cause the white face tends to extend into a 

 white head; but these are things apart. The 

 excellence really asked and insisted on is beef- 

 making capacity in the Hereford a frame 

 formed for carrying flesh, filled out evenly and 

 smoothly, and carrying most flesh where the 

 most esteemed cuts come from, and with it show- 

 ing the sturdy constitution which all healthy 

 animals must have. In the Jersey, on the other 

 hand, we expect the great, square, blocky form 

 to yield to the smaller, lighter frame, wide be- 

 hind, light in front; wedge shaped, as the 

 phrase is; in fine, the typical shape of the 



