TESTS AT EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 121 



with a little Holstein cow included, a much poorer one than Jansje. On the 

 whole, I think the conclusion is fairly warranted that the attempt to settle the 

 relative merits of an entire breed of cows by the test of two or three " repre- 

 sentatives " is not a success. I fear further that there is too much haste on 

 the part of some experiment station workers to publish results, and to lay 

 down broad generalizations based on very limited premises. This is the more 

 to be deplored, because very many readers see or hear only the generalizations 

 and never investigate their foundations ; in fact, the agricultural press and the 

 experiment station record, from which alone most intelligent readers get their 

 ideas of the work done outside their own state, have no room for more than 

 a mere summary of results. 



Since preparing the above, I have seen the Twelfth Annual Report of the 

 New York Station. Tables showing the ccflst of production of milk and fat for 

 the first, second and third "periods of lactation " are given. I see no reason to 

 modify any of the positions already taken. It is, perhaps, worthy of mention 

 that as a producer of milk (quality ignored), the Holsteins rank, in the second 

 and third periods, fourth, being surpassed by the Ayrshires, American Holder- 

 ness and Guernseys in the second period, and by the American Holderness, 

 Devon and Ayrshires in the third period. 



CHAPTER XV. 



HOLSTEIN-FRIESIAN ADVANCED REGISTRY. 



This system of registry had its origin in the recognition of a fact largely 

 overlooked by American breeders, that excellence and public interest in a 

 breed of cattle cannot be maintained permanently without continued selection. 

 The great breeders of England, such as Bakewell, Price and the Collings, 

 recognized this fact more than a century ago. They built and sustained the 

 reputations of the improved breeds they originated by and through constant 

 selection. The same is true of the great breeders on the continent. In Holland 

 the careful selection of bulls for breeding purposes by district authorities has 

 been practiced from time immemorial, and to this is due in large measure the 

 excellence of the Holstein-Friesian breed. More recently in Switzerland this 

 principle has been recognized and brought under the direction of government 

 authority. Thus it will be seen that the idea at the foundation of this system 

 of registry is not original with the founder. It is new only in American 

 breeding. 



The formal recognition, however, and embodiment of this principle in a 

 distinct system of registry, is original with the Holstein-Friesian Association 

 of America. At the time of the formation of this association by the union of 

 the Holstein Breeders Association and the Dutch-Friesian Herd Book Associa- 

 tion, the need of a greater stimulus to selection than was afforded by the 

 simple system of herd book registry, as practiced both at home and abroad, 

 had become apparent. The great popularity of the breed had stimulated to 

 excessive importation. A class of dealers had already introduced inferior 

 cattle from the Netherlands in the hope simply of immediate profit. These 

 cattle, though not eligible to the herd books of the Netherlands, had from the 

 mere fact of importation and proper coloring been admitted to the herd books 

 here. Moreover, the offspring of these cattle were to be forever eligible to 

 registry. Not only then was there great danger in spite of the herd book 

 registry of the degeneration of the breed, but careful breeders working judi- 

 ciously with the principle of selection for the improvement of their cattle, were 

 furnished no stimulus and left without protection. It was evident to a close 

 observer, that something further was imperatively demanded in order to 

 advance or even to maintain the standard of excellence of the breed in this 

 country. 



A study of the situation by Mr. S. Hoxie, at that time secretary of the 

 Dutch-Friesian Association, convinced him that this object could be attained, 

 and only attained, through a direct recognition of the principle of selection 

 by a further extension of the registry system. Out of this idea has grown the 

 Holstein-Friesian Advanced Registry. 

 9 



