31 
THE VALUE OF PEDIGREE. 
At a recent meeting of the Kingscote Agricultural Association, 
at Kingscote, Gloucestershire, I had the pleasure of addressing 
the members on the subject of “ Pedigree Cattle and Stock — the 
advantages that have accrued, and the disadvantages which may 
accrue, from close clinging to pure blood.” Subsequently there 
was a discussion, in which several gentlemen amongst those 
present took part. At the request of the Journal Committee 
I have reproduced for the pages of the Journal the substance of 
my remarks, together with some additions, and I have en- 
deavoured also to embody the opinions of other speakers. 
It may be thought from the title of the address that an 
attack is made on the breeding of “ pure ” stock ; but it is 
unlikely that one who for thirty years has bred, and continues to 
breed, “ pure ” Suffolk horses, “ pure ” Shorthorn cattle, “ pure ” 
Southdown sheep, and “ pure ” Berkshire pigs, should wish to 
do this. My object, on the contrary, is to show what advantages 
have accrued from “ pure ” breeding, not only to the breeder, 
but to the consumer and community at large. At the same 
time, it will be my endeavour to point out disadvantages which 
may have accrued from this too close clinging to “ pure ” blood, 
and to indicate its effect both as regards the production of meat 
and as affecting the quantity and quality of milk. I propose to 
confine myself almost entirely to the Shorthorn, or what at one 
time was called the “ Durham,” breed of cattle; not only because 
it is best known to myself, but because it is the oldest “ pedigree” 
breed of cattle in existence, and therefore the best adapted to 
the purpose in view. 
With reference to pedigree and its value, I would say 
that all life has pedigree. When a register or record of 
parents has been kept, on both father’s and mother’s side, 
it constitutes a pedigree ; but, as a matter of fact, few have 
been kept, either in the human or the brute races, still less 
in the vegetable world. The earliest records are Biblical, and 
are chiefly of fathers and sons. Only brief accounts of dams 
descended to the Arabs with their horses. At the end of the 
eighteenth century English breeders began to pay increased 
attention to the ancestry of their horses and cattle, and particu- 
larly of their sheep, so much so that just about a hundred 
years ago rams of the Leicester breed sold for several hundred 
guineas each. Bakewell made 1,200 guineas for three rams in 
1789, and one ram was actually let for 1,000 guineas. These 
