596 GENETICS IN RELATION TO AGRICULTURE 
data must be handled intelligently. In this connection the need of 
additional comparative tables like Table LX VII for other characters and 
other classes of livestock should be mentioned. They are not difficult 
to obtain and undoubtedly they will be available some day. 
Pedigrees.—The pedigree of an animal is simply a record of its 
ancestry, and accordingly the ideal system of recording pedigrees} is 
that system which gives proper emphasis to each animal in the pedigree. 
The one-time fashionable practice of tracing pedigrees back through 
five or six or even more generations to some illustrious sire or dam 
cannot, therefore, be too strongly condemned, for it over emphasizes 
remote ancestors in certain lines and tends to underrate the importance 
of a possibility of inferiority in nearer ancestors. As a test of purity 
of blood, the Arabians require that their horses trace through long lines 
of descent to the five mares of Al Khamsceh; there is, however, no justi- 
fication for this practice in modern breeding operations. 
The pedigrees of pure-bred breeding stock are recorded in herd 
books. For such animals it is only necessary to consult the herd books 
in order to trace out their ancestry. However, it is usually more con- 
venient, since the pedigree must be traced through several volumes of 
the herd-book, to record it in extended form in the herd record. This 
is not a difficult task; it need be done only once for every animal, and 
the task is still further lightened by the fact that. the individuals of any 
established herd will have so many common ancestors that they will 
duplicate one another’s pedigrees to a great extent. It is, however, 
necessary to say a word regarding the method of recording such pedigrees. 
The following pedigree of Roan Gauntlet, a famous old Cruickshank 
Shorthorn sire, taken directly from Volume XXII of the ‘‘ American 
Shorthorn Herd-book,”’ illustrates a method of recording pedigrees which 
should not be followed by breeders: 
Roan Gauntlet 45,276 (35,284).—Roan, calved May 19, 18738, bred by A. Cruick- 
shank, owned by Mr. Rennie, got by Royal Duke of Gloster (29,864), out of Princess 
Royal by Champion of England (17,526)—Carmine by The Czar (20,947)—Cressida 
by John Bull (11,618)—Clipper by Billy (3151)—by Dandy (6918)—by Tiptop 
(7633)—bred by Mr. Mason. 
The reason why this method should not be followed may be seen 
very easily in Fig. 232, which illustrates a proper way of recording a 
pedigree. Here the bold-faced type indicates those animals which were 
included in the pedigree as given in the herd-book. Of the sixty-two 
ancestors of Roan Gauntlet in five generations only nine are included in 
the herd book record. Further the record is defective in that it fails to 
give any evidence of the type of breeding which was employed in pro- 
ducing Roan Gauntlet. The way this bull traces back to the great 
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