THE COW TKIBES 77 



stock registry is the Ayrshire record established 

 in New England in 1863. The Jersey and Hol- 

 stein records were begun about 1872 and the 

 Guernsey in 1877. The herd-books of the minor 

 breeds are of still more recent origin. The whole 

 usefulness of the system of pedigrees and regis- 

 tration depends on records rigorously supervised 

 and honestly kept and which are correct to the 

 best of human ability. In the end, the whole sys- 

 tem rests on the conscientious honesty of the indi- 

 vidual breeder. The temptations and opportuni- 

 ties to substitute and to falsify records in various 

 ways are great and detection is well-nigh impos- 

 sible. Occasional scandals have been brought to 

 light, but, on the whole, the number is few and 

 the associations have dealt severely with the 

 guilty. There is no reason to question the essen- 

 tial correctness of our live-stock records. 



The breeds of cattle are usually classified into 

 three groups: the special beef kinds, the special 

 dairy breeds, and the general or dual-purpose sorts. 

 The theory regarding the last is that they will give 

 fairly profitable returns as dairy animals, and in 

 addition their male calves will make good feeding 

 steers, while they themselves will make a fair car- 

 cass of beef when their dairy days are over. The 

 best comment on this theory is that not one of the 

 so-called general-purpose breeds has ever won any 

 wide popularity. Probably the nearest approach 

 is in certain strains of milking Shorthorns. 



