GETTING A START 65 
breeders and pay them the price they ask for 
their best stock. This stock will be pedigreed 
and by paying an additional dollar you can 
have it registered in the breed book of your 
breed. This will give you something of a line 
on its ancestry. 
If your stock is not good enough to be regis- 
tered, do not buy it, for it is poor policy to 
start out with such stock. The fact that it has 
been refused registration shows that it is not 
Standard in some particular. Breeding from 
such stock would be worse than folly. 
Do not fall into the error of supposing that a 
pedigree is evidence of quality. It may be and 
it may not, for even the best thoroughbreds 
sometimes throw scrubs. Every one should 
know that. The pedigree is valuable only in 
giving you a line on the ancestry behind the 
animal, for blood lines are far more important, 
everything else being equal, than the individ- 
ual specimen. 
Stock should not be purchased unless safe 
delivery is guaranteed by the breeder and the 
