PROGRESS OF THE STATIONS. 15 



cently two stations in cooperation with this Department have under- 

 taken breeding experiments with horses, in one case to produce an 

 American carriage horse from the xVmerican trotter as foundation 

 stock and in the other to improve the Morgan breed of horses. 



Another indication of the recent development of interest in sys- 

 tematic breeding investigations is found in the organization of the 

 American Breeders' Association, with members in this Department 

 and in every agricultural experiment station in the United States. 

 The purposes of this association, as stated in its constitution, are " to 

 study the laws of breeding and to promote the imi)rovement of 

 plants and animals by the development of expert methods of breed- 

 mg." 



But the attention here directed to the breeding work of the stations 

 is not to be taken as an indication that their other work has been 

 allowed to drift or that the investigators in other lines of research 

 are in the slightest degree relaxing their efforts to add to the sum of 

 knowledge concerning the science of agriculture or to bring about 

 needed improvements in all lines of agricultural practice. On the 

 contrary, the examples cited are merely indications of a growing 

 appreciation by station men in each line of research of the need of 

 more thorough studies of the broader and more fundamental prob- 

 lems in agriculture. The well-directed enthusiasm which everv- 

 where pervades this work augurs well for the future of agricultural 

 research in this country. 



The vastness of agricultural problems, when considered in the aggi'e- 

 gate, is almost beyond comprehension. When account is taken of the 

 fact that the production of wealth on farms in the United States in 

 1905 reached the stupendous aggregate of $6,415,000,000, and that 

 this represents an increase of $256,000,000 over the production in. 

 1904, the importance of any one discovery affecting favorably the 

 production of agricultural wealth is apparent. And this vast in- 

 crease in productive capacity is due primarily to improved methods 

 in farm practice. In the period covered by this report no consider- 

 able new areas have been brought under cultivation except where cul- 

 tivation has been made possible by investigations showing the possi- 

 bility of reclaiming arid or semiarid lands by irrigation or dry- 

 farming operations. Credit for this additional wealth-producing 

 power must therefore be given mainly to the use of improved field 

 crops, fruits, and animals; to better methods of cultivating, fertiliz- 

 ing, harvesting, and marketing crops; to more rational practice in 

 feeding and caring for farm animals, and to the more general and 

 successful use of pn'ventives and remedies for diseases and insect 

 pests of plants and animals. If, now, credit for one-lunuhvdlh part 

 of the improvement in farm practice can be given to the iidhience 

 exerted by the experiment stations through the 6^,400,000 publications 



