It is scarcely desirable to go further into the question as to the comparative influence on the young of the sire and the dam since our actual knowledge of the subject is by no means large. Indeed, it is at the least doubtful, if by the closest observation any definite opinion on the subject is possible, so great is the difference which varying parents have on the chief characteristics of their joint progeny, and even in the separate specimens which they have procreated. Of course, it is quite possible to breed animals especially well developed or endowed with certain qualities, providing that the parents have been for generations selected because of their possession in a marked degree of those particular qualities sought. It is in this power of prepotency that one of the chief benefits from the use of a pure bred sire or dam arises. By the term pure bred is not meant merely that the names of a certain number of the forbears of the animal shall have been recorded in the register of the breed, but that the animal shall for a certain number of generations have been bred on similar lines so that it shall possess a considerable amount of concentrated blood. This is a point to which sufficient care is not generally given by purchasers of so-called pedigree sires to be used on the ordinary bred or graded stock. The far too common practice is to purchase each boar required from a totally different herd, or from one of quite dissimilar breeding, with the result that there is not the slightest uniformity in the appearance or character of the herd, or of the mature animals when ready for market. It is far too frequently forgotten that the chief value of a record of the pedigree is that by it one can trace the breeding of the animal's progenitors, and thus one is enabled to form some opinion of the probable produce--providing it is possible to learn the chief characteristics of the progenitors. Failing this, the only course open is to note the names of the breeders of the more recent parents, as from this a certain amount of information as to the probable qualities of the parents may be obtained or surmised. Another point on which at least a diversity of opinion exists, is the wisdom of giving so much consideration to the fact that the herd from which the sire is purchased shall have been recently successful in the show yard, or in extreme cases, that the sire itself shall have been a prize winner. It is urged that the mere fact that a sire has succeeded in winning one or more prizes is a proof that it possesses in a marked degree those qualities which are most highly prized. This may be conceded, yet there is no certainty that the mating of this winning sire even with dams that have also been prize winners shall result in the production of young the equal of the parents, since the winners at the various shows may be of dissimilar types and breeding.