LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING 
would be required in these breeding operations. 
There would be no incentive to higher achieve- 
ment; simply a drifting, purposeless existence. 
The homely saying that any dead fish can float 
down stream but it takes a live one to swim up, is 
most applicable. The fanciers of indomitable 
purpose and the courage of their convictions, and 
with the never say die spirit are the ones who 
have solved the mysteries of animal breeding and 
brought into existence animals of the highest type 
for all purposes for the pleasure and benefit of 
mankind. 
What one man has done another, with the 
same fixity of purpose and determination, can do. 
Mr. ‘‘New-beginner’”’ this means you; for with 
you there is hope. Mr. ‘‘Old-beginner,’’ whose 
greatest success is in making failures, take heed, 
and incline thine ear to goodly counsel. 
And now a few words relative to the vital 
points brought out in the foregoing chapters. 
First, in regard to the possibility of deterioration 
from in-breeding. Every successful breeder be- 
lieves there is a deterioration. Most authorities 
claim this to be a fact. Yet modern scientists 
and theorists believe to the contrary, and hold 
that all that is necessary is to select for stamina 
and vigor, no matter how closely related the 
breeding stock. My advice, after forty years’ ex- 
perience, to every breeder is a quotation of an 
old railroad rule which reads: ‘‘In ease of doubt 
take the side of safety.’’ The salient successes 
that mark all history in all animal breeding have 
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