Breeding 447 



that a sire which is in-bred has his breeding qualities 

 intensified, that he is more prepotent in impressing him- 

 self on his offspring, that his get are more uniform, and the 

 character of his breeding can be more surely predicted. 

 There is no question regarding the supreme value of 

 these things in a sire. The practical question is whether 

 this method of mating can be followed without grave 

 danger of reducing fertility and undermining vigor and 

 constitution. If it cannot, uniform prepotent breeding 

 qualities obtained by in-breeding are bought, certainly, 

 at too great a cost. 



The methods followed by the constructive breeders of 

 the past will throw light on this problem. Bakewell, who 

 was our first great breeder and teacher, mated " the best 

 to the best," it is said, regardless of relationship. He 

 succeeded in effecting such wonderful improvement in 

 the meat and early maturing qualities of his Longhorn 

 cattle and Leicester sheep that his method was hailed 

 as the new discovery in breeding. Cruickshank was a 

 great constructive breeder. From the time Champion 

 of England was produced, his method was that of concen- 

 trating, intensifying, and fixing in his herd the blood of 

 this great bull. Collings brothers, the Booths, and 

 Bates did not hesitate to in-breed when the animals 

 were strong and suited to one another. Likewise, the 

 founders of the Aberdeen-Angus and Hereford breeds 

 used in-breeding to a very marked degree. The fact is 

 that practically every early breeder who achieved eminence 

 practiced in-breeding to a greater or less degree. The 

 beginning foundations of practically all our improved 

 breeds of live-stock are consequently narrow rather than 

 broad. Gentry of Berkshire fame is a recent breeder 

 whose success no doubt is in part the result of the careful 



