PROSPECTS OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 255 



watery as the same varieties do in England, and by growing our 

 own seed and selecting bulbs that will give us the largest yield of 

 real food per acre with the least water, we may hope to make 

 some real improvement that will far more than pay the cost of all 

 our experimental stations for the next twenty years. We shall 

 then export mangel wurzel seed to England and France instead of 

 importing it. 



And I hope, and firmly believe, that we shall do the same thing 

 with herds of sheep and swine. There is a grand chance for in- 

 telligent, skillful, scientific and honest breeders in this country. 

 But we must breed for real merit and not for show. Our experi- 

 mental stations must test our work as we proceed, showing us the 

 right direction, and checking us when we are going wrong. 



We have, for years, been importing the best cattle and sheep, 

 and best swine that England could produce. We have been able 

 to hold our own in the case of pedigreed cattle. But we have not 

 attained like success in the case of English breeds of sheep and 

 pigs. An English-bred sheep or pig almost always makes a better 

 appearance in the show-yard than the home-bred, even though 

 descended directly from the very choicest imported stock. It is 

 worth our while to ask why this is the case. Why cannot we suc- 

 ceed as well with English sheep as with English Shorthorns ? 



I think we may find an answer, at least in part, in the fact that 

 Shorthorns have a recorded pedigree, the sheep and swine have 

 not. The Shorthorns are kept as pure in England as they are here. 

 We compete on common ground. But how is it with sheep and 

 swine ? If I wish to show a sheep or pig at the Centennial, I am 

 required to furnish evidence that it is "imported or descended 

 from imported animals, and that the home-bred shall be of pure 

 blood as far back as the fifth generation." 



No real American breeder will object to this rule. With my 

 own sheep and swine I can comply with the conditions, but in 

 reply to a request for suggestions I remarked that the same rule 

 ought to be applied to English breeders and to imported stock as 

 to American breeders and home-bred animals. If not, why not? 



I have got Cotswold sheep imported from the best breeders in 

 England, but I have never yet happened to see a pedigree of Eng- 

 lish sheep or of English pigs that was worth the paper on which 

 it was written. I do not say that English sheep and pigs are not 

 pure, but I do say that, as a rule, the records do not prove it. 

 And I think that far greater latitude is allowed the English breed- 



