188 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS AND PLANTS 
not more effective than mixed breeding, which in truth it really 
is, unless the object be the formation of a new breed, which is a 
long and tedious task, but entirely feasible in theory, as we 
have seen. 
Some additional points may well be noted upon these four 
systems of breeding. The first, or mixed breeding, has nothing 
to commend it to the progressive farmer. It is and always will 
be the method of the shortsighted stockman, who does not look 
ahead, and who sees nothing beyond immediate results, but who 
feels obliged and perhaps is obliged to be economical. 
Pure breeding requires relatively large numbers, in order to 
afford material for selection. With the larger animals this means 
large capital, putting this method of breeding out of the reach 
of the average stockman. With the smaller animals, especially 
the prolific pigs and poultry, every man should breed only pure- 
bred animals. Whether he goes to the trouble of getting them 
recorded will depend upon whether he desires to sell to other 
breeders or only to raise for the open market. 
With the larger and more expensive animals, grading is the 
form of improvement to be recommended for universal practice. 
Here the farmer uses the females already on hand and buys only 
the sire, which is the only recorded animal needed in this form 
of improvement. 
This sire is half parent to every young thing born, so the first 
crop of young will be half bloods; that is, they will have half 
the advantage of pure breeding by the use of a single animal, 
while to give the offspring the other half would require the 
purchase not of a single animal but of as many as there are 
females in the herd, one dam for cach offspring. 
Suppose, for example, a farmer has thirty common cows. How 
will the expense run in the two methods of breeding? If he is to 
breed pure, he must sell these cows and with the proceeds buy 
pedigreed animals. It will take at least three common cows to 
buy one registered cow that is equally good as a performer, and 
if the pedigree ‘runs in the purple,” it will take many more. 
