DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



41 



fication of this method is seen in cross- 

 ing a pure bred male on a scrub or un- 

 improved female. The latter process is 

 known as grading up or grade breeding. 

 Cross breeding has been a quite common 

 practice among sheep raisers. The 

 Hampshires were improved by crossing 



Fig. 27 WILD TURKEY GOBBLER, SOURCE 



OF OUR DOMESTIC BREEDS 



with the Southdowns; the Shropshires 

 have been crossed with the Cotswold, 

 Leicester and Southdown, and many- 

 other crosses have occurred in sheep, 

 cattle and horses. All who have prac- 

 ticed cross breeding insist upon the 

 great importance of using only males of 

 the best possible character. Many fail- 

 ures in cross breeding have been due to 

 the use of inferior males. However im- 

 portant the infusion of new blood may 

 be, the breeder cannot secure any useful 

 result by merely mixing the blood of 

 different breeds indiscriminately. Cross- 

 ing must be done with intelligence and 

 with some purpose in view. Otherwise 

 the good points of both breeds may be 

 lost in a worthless ha If breed. As indi- 

 cated in the discussion of variation, 

 widely unlike characters may not blend 

 and it is often impossible to predict 

 what the results will be. One breed may 

 be used sometimes to supplement an- 

 other breed in some weak point. Cross 

 breeding, however, is little practiced at 



the present day and there seems to be 

 comparatively little occasion for it. 



Grade breeding — Finally we come to 

 grade breeding or grading up, the only 

 method of breeding with which the aver- 

 age farmer is likely to be occupied. It 

 is the method which promises the best, 

 quickest and most economic results in 

 his hands. Considering the great num- 

 bers of native or unimproved stock 

 which must be utilized, grading up is 



Fig. 28 BRONZE TURKEY OF MODERN TYPE 



the only method of breeding which 

 can be conscientiously recommended to 

 the farmer. Grade breeding consists 

 in the continued breeding of pure 

 bred sires to unimproved or grade 

 stock. The result is the constant im- 

 provement of native stock and the 



