The Ordway new era., 1908-08-14

grade horse. strictly speaking,
is one that was sired by pure-bred
stallion. Always the sire must be
pure-bred. II the progeny is to be en-.
Titled to the name of grade" Where
a pure-bred mare Is bred to grade
stallion her progeny is not grade"
Such breeding is de.grading-a step
backward and downward-and, the
progeny which has not been graded up.
but degraded down. is OF mongrel
breeding.
When pure-bred stallion Is mated
with native or mongrel.bred mare
the product of this first mating is a
"one-top-cross' grade. the offspring
being one-half pure blood and one.halr
Impure blood. II the first progeny is a
female and in turn is bred to pure.
bred stallion. of the breed used for
the original top.cross, her progeny will
be a ''two.top.cross' grade. or three.
quarters pure.brcd. When five top
crosses OF the same kind OF blood have
been put on. the last resultant of.
spring is practically pure.bred. and II
the work OF further top-crossing is per-
sistently carried on. without a, single
turning aside to n sire of some other
breed. the blood of the offspring be.
comes purer all the while and purity
OF blood, when fully established, pro-
duces In Its possessors decided heredi.
tary power tprepotency) to stamp
upon their progeny the fixed charac.
teristics OF the breed employed In the
grading-up or top-crossing process.
native or grade mare the resultant
progeny is of mixed breeding. It is
not grade. strictly speaking, for
there has been no grading up In the
breeding process and no advance can
possibly be made so long as grade
sire is used in place OF pure-bred
stallion. This applies to the stallion
that is still n grade. by reason OF too
few top-crosses to make him practical.
ly pure-breed.
Where five or more top.crosses of
pure blood have been employed In the
grading-up process the final product
no longer is an ordinary grade but Is
practically pure-bred, and being such
has gathered some of the prepotency
of the pure blood of the one predomi-
nant breed and so may be enabled to
stamp. with fair degre of fidelity,
the characters of that breed upon the
progeny of all classes of mates. Such
horses. however. are not eligible to
record in a majority of the. govern.
ment recognized stud books, hence
their retention for breeding purposes
Is inadvisable when legitimately re.
tnt1 L..
in their place.
The pure breeds of horses have
been bred in one line for so many
years without an admixture of alien
blood that each stallion representing
a pure breed is possessed of the power
to transmit at least the designating
bred characteristics of his kind Some
purebred stations have more power
than others in this way and the degree
of power (prepotency) may be said to
depend largely upon the degree Of pre-
potency possessed by each individual
ancestor and the length of time those
ancestors of the individual horse have
been bred pure in direct line. Some
times the pure-bred stallion may not
be so individually excellent as we
could WISH but almost inevitably, II he
is well bred and of a good family, he
will transmit successfully the charac-
teristics of his breed and in many in
stances some of the superior qualities
of his ancestors. Always a pure.bred
stallion must be employed, If the
breeding operation is to be true grad
ing up process, and the better bred
and more perfect the individual stal.
lion Is the more quickly will his grade
progeny attain the type, character,
quality and valuable attributes Of the
pure breed.
This grading-up process everywhere
should be patiently and persistently
followed in practice, the males being
each time castrated for the work
horse market and the females re-
tanned for the furtherauce Of the i'm
proved horse-breeding operations.
The grade stallion may be, and
sometimes is, good locker" and pos
sessed Of superior vigor, by reason Of
hard work in harness, but there 10 lit
tls II any breed prepotency back Of his
eood looks. His pleasing appearance