St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-02-20
GROSS BRNEDING.
An Analysis of the Subject by
William Warfield in the Indiana

| Two divisions OF this SUBJECT force0 on
us by modern conditions which are
| quite distinct and require to be looked
at from totally different points of view.
In the first place, we have crosses
| between two distinct breeds where
the breeds are both well recognized inn
| proved breeds; and secondly, crosses
between an improved breed and a ma
! tive, or improved stock. The conditions
| of the two methods of crossing are
| quite different. The latter we usually
| speak of as ''~rading up," and the re-
suiting Offspr.ngs we cab grades"
| The former is most distinctiveiy termed
CROSSING" and the resulting products
| are called Crosses" or "croSs-bred
| CATTLE"
Cross-breeding in its narrower sense
of crosses between two distinct breeds
| of improved stock has lost much of its
'lmportanee on account of the great
| value which is now put upon pedigree.
Pedigree and the absolute purity of
blood. to say nothing of the demand SO
| often made for single, or at most
few strains of ultra fashionable blood,
have in recent years been so much
the dominant features of cattle
| breeding as to make it almost lmpOs-
| sible for any breeder to go contrary to
the popular tendency. The tendency
of an earlier day was quite the reverse.
| There was general sentiment prior to
the time of Blackwell, the Ceilings and
| other contemporary or nearly contem-
porary imprOvers, that the cattle and
| domestic animals as they then existed
were of a poor quality and could he and
ought to be improved. How to do this
| was the question, and the general senti-
ment Of the time adopted the idea of
crossing breed with breed. At one time
| 1t was carried to
AN lMMODERATE EXTENT,
and in the hands OF ignorant expert
mentors all manners of errors were COM
mitted, and these mistakes not infre-
| Quently led to serious permanent harm.
! Other breeders of more wisdom and
| judgment proceeded with more care and
doubtless did not little improve the
different breeds of stock. The breed
| lines were in many cases at that time
much less closely drawn than at the
present day. The types were far less
| artlficially differentiated nearly every
where. If, however, it is true.
as maintained by Darwin, Ruti-
| meyer, and other men of science.
that the European breeds of cattle are
| descended from three aboriginal and
quite distinct species, then it is likely
that in some cases there were more eX-
| IRENE differences among European
cattle in an earlier day than exists now,
and it is perhaps to the constant expert
mentatiOn with cross breeding that We
owe the assimilation to a general type
which existed i'm the early part of the
eighteenth century and which more
readily yielded to variation than could
have been expected from the original
type. However this may be. up to the
time of the
FAREWELL IMPROVEMENT
this was chiefly sought through crosses,
and this method had the approval of all
classes, of scientists and theoretical
writer's as well as eXperimenters and
practical farmers. A wise man and ju-
diciOus breeder who had made a
thoughtful study and careful analysis
| of the character of the stock from which
he was breeding, and who clearly saw
that defect in one breed was to he
amended by seeking another breed with
corresponding excellence in that point,
! and who blended and waited patiently
for the result, not expecting too much
from the first generation, often secured
very good results. But the work thus
| accomplished was occasional and spas
| modic, and the results as recorded and
| finally summed Up in history are with
| out evidence of any material progress.
| The most that can be claimed for the
| epoch is that it was eriod of prepare
| ton during which the theater was being
made ready and the instruments pre-
pared for the activities of the succeed
| ing age.
The progress made by individual
breeders must have oftentiEes seemed
| of high degree, otherwise it is impos-
| sible to see how this method was so long
| adhered to, to the exclusion of every
| other. 1t has been well settled that
| such crosses are very fruitful in vigor
| and vitality. 1t was perhaps this which
| tempted the unsatiated eXperimenterS
on. and still OH, even when the ultimate
results were not what was looked for.
1t thus soon became necessary to come
| to some sort of definite conception as to
| permanent method. Was there to be
a constant and continuous interfusiOn
| of the blood of two or more breeds, or
were the results of the first series of
| crosses to be made the basis of a new
breed; or was the cross to beintrOduced
| merely as an occasional remedy for
| some particular fault which, once
done, the regular line of the breed upon
which the cross was made would be re-
| turned o?
The first of these methods lacks any
motive for its adoption, and is too
| little susceptible of SystematiZatiOn to
seriously attract any practical breeder
who aims to attain real improvement.
| The second was naturally fayorite
| with many of the more ambitious ex-
| perimenters, but the verdict of prosper
| ity seems to be that in most ANIMALS the
| effort to keep up breed formed by in
| tercrossing any two given breeds,
where no other method was used
in conjunction with it, has not
been successful save in very
4 fol
rather as exceptions than as an
tagonistic facts. 1t is to be kept in
mind that this is not meant to cover
such cases as those in which a special
quality has been obtained by means of
cross and perpetuated by resort to the
Blackwell methods. The line of dis
tinction lies in the method of selection
chiefly. In one case the basis of the Sc
lection consists of all animals which are
croSs-bred in particular manner; In
the other only such of the special cross
bred type as are possessed of the certain
special features for which the cross was
made. In the one case the descend
ants are all within the class; and in
the other each successive generation
must be carefully culled of all failing
to conform to the standard. If the
qualities prove non-transmissible and
die out in the one case, the variety lives
On as an empty name. III the Otn6r IL
ceases for lack of raiSon d'etre. 1t
is very doubtful if there is any recog-
niZed distinct breed formed of the
union of two other original breeds
which can be traced to simple mixing
of the breed and subsequent breeding
from all sprung from the cross.
THE USUAL COURSE.
By far the most usual course pursued
in making crosses is the third method.
1t was eminently natural for breeder
whose stock showed a particular defect
to seek male of another breed which
did not have like fault and make a
cross upon his stock with him in the
hope of curing the deficiency. The
cross once made. the ordinary cross of
breeding within the old breed would be
returned to.
A somewhat remarkable example
though aleeitimate offspring of the time