3 i2 Wisconsin state agricultural society. 
In making these first purchases of pure-breed animals, or any 
future purchases, buy only from men of character, in whose state¬ 
ments you can fully rely; for there is no business in which a 
fraud and a cheat can be so readily practiced as in breeding pure 
bred cattle, or in fact any other pure-bred stock. A pedigree, 
however good on its face, recorded in the American Herd Book, 
or the Short-Horn Record, unless backed by a man of undoubted 
character and care in his breeding, may be entirely worthless. 
The majority of short horns bred, would of necessity be grades, 
for the reason that farmers generally cannot afford to own and 
breed the pure breeds, and more particularly so because the well 
developed grade short horn, steer or cow, for beef and milk pur¬ 
poses, are very nearly, if not fully equal to the pure bred. 
Choice grades are fully equal to pure breds for all purposes ex¬ 
cept that of reproduction. 
In the production of grades, the first cross is a half-blood, the 
second three-quarters, the third seven-eighths, and so on. It fre¬ 
quently happens that a half-blood looks as well and is equal to a 
much higher grade, or even a thorough bred, for beef purposes, 
but the more nearly you approach the pure bred animal for breed¬ 
ing purposes, the more certain you are to produce the well formed 
and more valuable animals for market. 
These improvements in general farming (which must be based 
on stock-growing, if to be successful), and the consequent better 
condition in all respects, of the farmer and the community at 
large, cannot be brought about without some effort on the part of 
those to be benefitted. The successful farmers in each neighbor¬ 
hood, those who have accumulated a reasonable share of this 
world’s goods, are the persons to do it. They should do so on 
their own account and for the general good, which, in the end, 
will be for their benefit. We all owe a duty to one another and 
to the community in which we reside, and we owe it in proportion 
to our ability to perform. The man who neglects that duty and 
works only for himself and family, to develop true and noble man¬ 
hood, fails. Some of these successful farmers in each county 
should start a small short-horn herd, and grow into a large one— 
others should provide pure-bred bulls for their own use and that 
of their neighbors. In neighborhoods where the men of mean 
