SELECTION OF BREEDING ANIMALS. 285 



cellence the power to reproduce excellence, and 

 for oft-repeated excellence the power to deepen 

 and quicken in all those having the double 

 portion of excellence, personal and inherited, 

 the power of transmitting it with increased 

 force. There was a time when men looked 

 more to the paper pedigree for in-and-in crosses 

 and calculated that prepotency increased di- 

 rectly as these crosses increased. I believe that 

 theory has in the main had its day. I am 

 accustomed to look at the prize lists in Eng- 

 land and America for the great proof of the 

 inheritance of prize-winning qualities. Study 

 the records of the great shows and you will be 

 astonished to see how surely great prize-win- 

 ning bulls send prize-winning calves and grand- 

 calves to stand for them and witness to the 

 permanence of their powers. Trace back the 

 pedigree of the great prize-winners of today 

 and their breeding is seen to be filled with the 

 records of many a well-won field. 



But this great power may be a two-edged 

 sword. Prepotency may be for evil as well as 

 for good, though naturally only valued when 

 for good. But often an. animal is a hopelessly 

 bad breeder, getting the meanest calves from 

 the finest cows. This is in the strictest accord 

 with the law. But instead of being sought it 

 must be avoided. I have seen the offspring of 

 most excellent families indelibly stamped with 



