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HERE IS A MUST
FOR NEW AND OLD HANDS AT THE GAME
The breeding season, following close on the heels of the shows, invariably produces fanciers who eagerly book
service to the most outstanding stud of the season, and regardless of his family,
expect to have winning progeny from this mating.
In this connection it is well to remember an old Norwegian proverb, and to heed it: ''Marry not the only good maid in the Clan." Dr. Leon Whitney, the internationally known breeder of bloodhounds and an all-round
authority on dogs, and who is now with the Yale Research Board, conducting valuable
research experiments on diet, wrote the book from which I borrow the title of this article,
The Basis of Breeding. It is purely scientific, and while it is primarily for dog breeders, it should be on the shelf of every cat breeder who can read. It contains many charts and tables of color combinations which are the
resulting per cent of experiments in color mixing and color setting, the chances of color in eyes and coat being carried on through generations. etc.
One of the principles which Dr. Whitney hammers home again and again, with vehemence, is the value of
Family to a breeder. In contemplating the field for breeding, he reiterates until he becomes almost
redundant. Marry not the only good maid in the Clan. He claims, and proves, that many a winning horse, dog or cat has been a throw-back
to some remote ancestor which biologically occurs just so often in all reproduction. He adds that with this one
example of the long ago ancestor, this blood will not be seen again in many more years. Therefore, it behooves the breeder to check the
entire blood line for the points which one wishes to have reproduced in her special stock.
If one has no knowledge of what characteristics the family of a given cat have, then he is shooting up a blind alley in breeding to any stud, no matter how great a winner he may be!
Coat goes in Family not Individuals; type goes in Family, especially if it is ''set" by line breeding; eye color goes in Family, length of brush goes in
Family, etc., etc., ad infinitum.
One of the most interesting points Dr. Whitney makes is that, if the choice is yours, choose the poorest cat in a
litter of a family which carries the points you are after; that is, tabby markings, no tabby markings, long, profuse coat, eye color, cobby type, wide top head, small ears, short massive legs, or
whatever it is you are after, rather than breed to the one winning cat perhaps from overseas, perhaps right here in America, whose family is unknown to you and from whose family you cannot trace the characteristics you need but who is in himself a handsome creature. Check the stud books, an invaluable record and a possession one should
cherish, for what progeny the winner has and then check the show catalogues for wins from his progeny, and check
why he won and on what. Who and what were his grandparents, and their grandparents
and has he any winning brothers or sisters? Or is he the only progeny of a name which has produced no other winner?
Dr. Whitney himself, when very young, was unable to afford the bitch he wanted for the foundation of his line of
bloodhounds, so he chose from the same litter the poorest bitch which he could afford to buy rather than buy the handsome bitch offered to him from an unknown family, but in herself a
beauty. From this chosen homely bitch he started his famous line which in a few years reached around the globe for fame
and winners. He attributed much of his success as a breeder to his start from the grand stock from which his bitch came, and not an individual dog. He
advises the closest possible scrutiny of head, eye color, coat, etc., etc., in each member of a family which is available either in person or records, check and double check family, and remember, ''Marry not the only good maid in the Clan."
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