SYSTEMATIC IMPROVEMENT OF ANIMALS 193 
reasons well understood by the student. I attribute this failure 
to our universal desire to experiment in something striking. 
If crossing has any value, it is not to improve the herd of a 
farmer, but to afford material for improving the breed as a whole, 
and even this is a long, tedious, and expensive undertaking 
because of the operation of Mendel’s law. Farmers who have 
tried it will say that crossing produces some good animals, but 
they are worthless as breeders. This is because of the principle 
just mentioned and the erratic behavior of characters dominant 
and recessive, as explained in Chapter NI. 
The practical farmer should have clearly in mind what he 
desires to do. If he very much wants to improve the breed as 
a whole, then well and good. All breeds need it, but he may 
as well understand that he has undertaken a Herculean task 
that will take much time and no little money. 
Most men are rightly after Aerd tinprovement merely ; that 
is, to bring into their own herds the most they can afford of 
the best that has already been accomplished in improvement. 
Now the least that such a man can afford to do is to buy a sire 
of the desired breed and begin at once to improve his own herd. 
Then later he can improve the breed, if he is able. 
Rational improvement. The rational procedure for the man 
who would improve his live stock is to secure a well-bred young 
male of the breed he prefers and “ grade up,” beginning with 
the females he has on hand, or such other common stock as can 
be bought on reasonable terms. Let him then raise several 
generations of grades, and later, if inclination offer and money 
permit, he can put in a few pure-bred females with his high 
grades and begin the production of a pure-bred herd; or he 
may go on with high grades indefinitely, well knowing that for 
market purposes the high grade is as good as the full blood. 
Starting in this way he will have several substantial advan- 
tages, which may be enumerated as follows: (1) he will start 
cheaply ; (2) he will produce relatively large numbers, making 
rigid selection possible ; (3) he will discover the special breed 
