254 CATTLE-BREEDING. 



study. Then when this is done there are so 

 many families left that every breeder naturally 

 asks, Which of the good ones are best ? So it is 

 generally easier for the beginner to begin at the 

 other end and learn of some one well versed in 

 matters of pedigree what families are particu- 

 larly esteemed and the grounds for their prom- 

 inence. This may seem as if it were leaving 

 too much to others; but this is inevitable. No 

 beginner can without aid and instruction hope 

 to master the subtleties of pedigree. It is a 

 recondite science of which few, very few in- 

 deed, are masters. A man is very fortunate, 

 and he must have been very studious, if he is, 

 after ten or twelve years of active breeding, 

 accompanied by constant study, possessed of a 

 good working knowledge of pedigrees such as 

 will insure him against making mistakes. The 

 tyro must needs learn not merely from books 

 and there is nothing so colorless as a book of 

 record but from those more learned in the art 

 than he, and to gain any working or practical 

 mastery of the subject experience is absolutely 

 indispensable. The beginner will generally find 

 it the safest way to begin, therefore, to go to 

 some old breeder of recognized knowledge and 

 position, and of thorough reliability, and act- 

 ing on his advice learn from him a first object 

 lesson. 

 Is it, then, impossible to lay down any safe 



