Page:Care and Management of Rabbits.djvu/186

170 a haphazard sort of breeding system. It looks merely to the present generation and it does not even lay a good foundation for future generations.

Line-breeding is not in-breeding, as so many people seem to believe. It is true that inbreeding is practiced in the first cycle, of operation, but there is not enough in-breeding to cause any harm. Line-breeding is a systematic form of breeding which preserves the excellence and characteristics of the parent stock. In other words, it perpetuates the blood of both sire and dam so that it is not eventually lost as is the case in cross-breeding. By this system of breeding the excellence in modern animals has been accomplished. Line-breeding is practiced by every live stock breeder of repute, for the simple reason that it enables him to make progress in his work.

By starting out with two specimens as nearly perfect as possible according to their Standard, they are mated together and the offspring contains just one-half of the blood of