IN-AND-IN BREEDING. 97 



Mr. Valentine Barford of Foscote, has the pedigree of 

 his Leicester sheep since the day of Bakewell, in 1'783, 

 and since 1810, he has bred entirely from his own flock, 

 sire and dam, without an inter-change of male or female 

 from any other flock. He observes "that his flock be- 

 ing bred from the nearest aflSnities — commonly called 

 in-and-in breeding — has not experienced any of the ill 

 effects ascribed to the practice." W. C. Spooner, V. S., 

 speaking of Mr. Barford's sheep says, "His flock is 

 remarkably healthy and his rams successful, but his 

 sheep are small." 



Mr. Charles Colling, after he procured the famous 

 bull Hubback, selected cows most likely to develop his 

 special excellencies, and from the progeny of these he 

 bred very closely. From that day to this, the Short- 

 horns as a general thing, have been very closely bred,* 



* Probably few who have not critically examined the facts regard- 

 ing close breeding in the improved Short-horns are aware of the 

 extent to which it has been carried. On the 28th of March, 1860, 

 at a sale of Short-horns at Milcote, near Stratford upon Avon 

 (England) thirty-one descendants of a cow called " Charmer," bred 

 of Mr. CoUing's purest blood, and praised in the advertisement as 

 "capital milkers and very prolific, not having been pampered," sold 

 for £2,140, averagingabout f 350 each, and many of them were calves. 

 The stock was also praised as " offering to the public as much of the 

 pure blood of ' Favorite' as could be found in any herd. ' ' With refer- 

 ence to this sale, which also comprised other stock, the Agricultural 

 Gazette, published a few days previous, had some remarks from which 

 the following is extracted: 



" It is unquestionable that the ability of a cow or bull to transmit 



