Page:The Scientific Monthly vol. 3.djvu/35

 THE ANIMAL-BREEDING INDUSTRY

��29

��TABLE vni

Prices Kbatjctp at Auction Sales or Pedigreed Beet Cattle

��Nftme of Breed

��Short-horn

Hereford

Aberdeen-Angus. . ..

Galloway

PoOed Durham

EedPoU

��1912

��No. of Sales

��45

15

12 I

• • •

2 1

��No. Sold

��1.882 957 627

■ • •

83 30

��At. Piloe

��$177.40 180.40 138.95

• •••••

132.85 107.25

��1011

��No. of Salee

��53 19 13

��No. Sold

��2.258

1,203

723

• • •

42

��At. Price

��$162.50 160.50 143.60

• ■••••

140.60

��1010

��No. of Sales

��49

20

19

1

3

1

��No. Sold

��1,999

1.214

995

67

74

41

��Av. Price

��$187.50 146.20 167.85 83^0 115.00 185.00

��Name of Breed

��Short-horn

Hereford

Aberdeen-AngUB

Galloviay

Polled Durham. Red PoU

��1000

��No. of

��78

25

18

2

2

3

��No. Sold

��3.308

1.398

935

69

79

35

��At. Price

��$159.00 127.05 189.00 128.05 129.45 97.80

��1008

��No. of Salee

��59

15

18

3

6

1

��No. Sold

��2.689 936 955 136 244 3

��At. Price

��$146.50 116.15 165.10

84.50 124.50

50.00

��1907

��No. of Salee

��84

29

18

3

3

3

��No. Sold

��3.60^

1.358

1.119

123

106

97

��At. Price

��$160.15 123.70 134.75 139.05 130.35 83.00

��* No puUio sales reported.

do if it "breeds true/' It obviously could not be expected to breed true if at frequent intervals it were crossed with other types. The breed- ing of individuals all of the same general type^ and belonging to a few family liues^ could be safely left to the individual breeder in the earlier days of the iudustry. With the wider development of the industry this was no longer possible. It became necessary to have an official regis- tration of pedigrees^ which should be beyond any chance of manipulation by the breeder. In this way one wishing to purchase an animal of a particular breed would have definite and objective evidence that the iu- dividual was^ in f act^ of the breed it was supposed to be.

Out of this need have grown the systems of pedigree registration in herd-books^ stud-books and the like. In certain countries at the present time these registry records have an enhanced official status^ because they are under governmental control and supervision. In the United States the control of live-stock registration is in some degree supervised by the Bureau of Animal Industry of the federal Department of Agriculture, particularly so far as concerns the registration of imported animals.

Under this system of pedigree registration an animal is regarded as '* pure bred '* if both its sire and dam are recorded in one of the officially recognized books of registration. ITo further biological criterion is de- manded. A strict biological interpretation of the words "pure bred'' would exclude many animals which are registered under the present i^tem. The biological conception of hereditary "purity" has become much refined in recent years, and it now appears that the term " pure

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