A HISTORY OF SHORTHORNS IN KANSAS 169 



an unusually high price in such sale helped the 

 selling price of the entire offering. 



Where the Danger Lies. There is a danger 

 point in the purchase of Shorthorns of fashion- 

 able pedigrees which can not help being an in- 

 jury to the breed and which should be a discredit 

 to any breeder who encourages it. It lies in the 

 selling of these fashionables for breeding pur- 

 poses at high prices, when they are not good indi- 

 viduals. We have all seen this done both at pub- 

 lic sale and at private treaty. Cattle of approved 

 Scotch pedigrees without merit enough to be 

 classed as even fairly good have sold for possibly 

 double the amount required to buy an excellent 

 Scotch topped animal, frequently having a 

 stronger infusion of good Scotch blood than the 

 fashionably bred one. In this case the purchaser 

 is either a victim of a false idea of the value of 

 pedigrees or he is a speculator who intends to 

 unload on an unsuspecting buyer. The usual re- 

 sult of such purchase is that the man who makes 

 it has a poor herd, when for less money he might 

 have had a good one. Then there is another con- 

 sideration which should discourage such pur- 

 chases. Not every one is in a position to sell at a 

 price above that justified by the real merit of the 

 individual and the real merit of its immediate 

 ancestry. 



What is a Good Pedigree. There can be only 

 one answer to this. Good is the opposite of bad. 



