256 CATTLE-BREEDING. 



present time and endeavor to find what he 

 wishes in their number. But the utmost care 

 will be necessary lest, some undesirable cross 

 having crept in through the bulls which have 

 been used on the good old stock, it should prove 

 to have been in a greater or less degree in- 

 jured. Too much care cannot be exercised on 

 this point, and it is safe to say that with re- 

 spect to most breeds no beginner has or can 

 have the knowledge or skill to thoroughly 

 examine and sift a long pedigree. The ramifi- 

 cations become endless, and the variety and 

 miscellaneousness of the blood found in most 

 animals so analyzed as to their breeding is 

 astonishing, and the analyst inevitably finds 

 himself at sea without a compass. Where all 

 is blank to him a practiced eye finds signs and 

 indications which tell him, almost at a glance, 

 the contents of the pedigree, and he does not 

 need to push very far along any pedigree be- 

 fore he finds a sure footing on familiar ground. 

 If young and inexperienced breeders had more 

 frequently in the past consulted honest and 

 learned breeders before making their purchases 

 there would not now be so many pitfalls for the 

 unwary. As it is, many of our best old families 

 have had so many bad crosses of all imaginable 

 kinds put on them that only the most expert 

 can be sure of sailing always in clear water. 

 Many of these breeders have been deceived by 



