BREEDING AND SELECTION 33 
of the animal in question, and we believe that the ancestors 
of an individual have an influence in determining the char- 
acter of the progeny of the individual. Therefore, if we find 
in the pedigree of a certain animal the names of a considerable 
number of animals known to possess a high degree of merit, 
and if the animal under consideration is a reasonably good 
representative of the breed, we would feel fairly safe in breed- 
ing from such an individual. We would say that such an 
animal had a good pedigree, because it comes of a good line 
of ancestors. If, however, we found an animal that was quite 
satisfactory as an individual, but the pedigree showed us names 
of ancestors which we knew possessed very undesirable qual- 
ities, we would hesitate to select such an animal to put into 
our herd, especially if it were a boar, because we would be 
afraid that some of those undesirable qualities might crop out 
in the progeny and be spread throughout the whole herd. 
We might even go so far as to select a boar not quite equal as 
an individual to the one just described, but possessing a good 
pedigree. 
It would not be advisable, however, to breed from a really 
bad individual merely because he had a good pedigree, because 
there are many animals with good pedigrees which should 
never be used for breeding. It is just here that experience 
is necessary to enable a breeder to hold the balance properly 
between individuality and pedigree. 
It may be added that a tabulated pedigree means nothing 
to the man who does not know anything about the animals 
whose names appear therein, and the man who would become 
a breeder must make it his business to familiarize himself 
with the great sires and families which have attained to 
eminence in the breed he is handling. It must be remembered. 
also, that the immediate ancestors, such as the sire, dam, grand- 
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