120 BREEDING IN-AND-IN. 



athers, and its stock rams were selected from its own number. 

 Consequently fathers and daughters, and brothers and sisters 

 must have constantly bred with each other. Mr. Chamber- 

 lain's Silesians have not received any cross, or any fresh blood 

 from either of the original families, within half a century ; 

 yet they are 50 per cent, larger than the sheep they originated 

 from and are entirely healthy. Mr. Hammond's Infautados 

 present a still stronger ease. They were bred in-and-in 

 by Col. Humphreys up to the period of Mr, Atwood's 

 purchase ; Mr, Atwood bred his entire flock from one ewe, 

 and never used any but pure Humphreys rams; Mr, Ham- 

 mond has preserved the same blood entirely intact — and 

 thus, after being drawn beyond all doubt from an unmixed 

 Spanish Cabana, they have been bred in-and-in, in the 

 United States, for upwards of sixty years. Fortunately Mr, 

 Hammond has preserved some of his leading individual 

 pedigrees, and I will give one of these as a most forcible 

 illustration of the subject under examination. For that 

 purpose I will select the pedigree of Gold -Drop, one of his 

 present stock rams. It includes that of Sweepstakes — the 

 ram figured in the frontispiece • — and has the advantage of 

 exhibiting the course of breeding for two generations later. 

 The pedigree is given on next page. 



