No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 239 



I once li&ard a prominent man, who is a close observer, say: "If 

 you will tell me what a people eat, I will tell you how that people 

 stands among civilized nations," I feel with equal certainty that if I 

 can see or know what kind of live stock a farmer has, I can tell not 

 only how he stands as a farmer, but also how he stands as a citi- 

 zen among his fellow men. It is impossible to breed a dairy cow 

 that will produce 700 pounds of butter in a year, a steer that will 

 dress 70 per cent, of meat to the cwt. live weight, a sheep that will 

 ishear 40 pounds of wool, or a hog that will win at our large live 

 stock exhibitions, without close study of the many questions 

 which arise in developing such animals. One must not only study 

 the laws of breeding and of nutrition necessary to produce and per- 

 fect, but he must also study the various crops he raises to feed, as 

 well as the methods employed by those breeding animals similar to 

 his own. In addition to this, he must meet his fellow breeders, 

 which Proverbs tells us "sharpens men as iron sharpeneth iron." 

 \ Furthermore, the man who breeds a high class of stock and succeeds 

 in it will get much more out of life as a farmer than he who takes 

 no interest in the quality of his horses or cattle. 



The writer is well acquainted with a breeder, the fame of whose 

 Holstein cattle has spread over all this country as well as Canada, 

 who began life with no capital, but with an appreciation of the value 

 of good cattle. With a determination to succeed as a breeder and 

 with a perseverance that overcame the many obstacles that beset 

 him, he has made himself very well-to-do and his herd has a repu- 

 tation exceeded by none. He is far happier in his achievement and 

 has reared a far more enduring monument to himself than some 

 fellow farmer who has frittered away a lifetime for the uncertain 

 fame of a small politician. This breeder is but one of the young 

 men who have risen from obscurity to prominence in the breeding 

 of fine cattle. Do you not suppose such a man has enjoyed life, 

 with all his hard work, much more than the farmers of this State 

 who have nothing in particular to interest them? Some of you 

 may say this is all sentiment and we cannot invest our money in 

 improved or blooded stock for mere sentiment. 



In order to meet this fairly, let us define the term "improved 

 stock," "Improved stock" is that class of animals that will give the 

 greatest net return for food consumed. In the care of beef cattle, 

 for example, the steers having a large percentage of blood of any 

 of the beef breeds, will, perhaps, not gain more pounds per day 

 than the scrub steer nor make his gain on less food, but he will put 

 more meat on those parts of his body that furnish the high priced 

 cuts than will the scrub steer. What is true of the steer in this con- 

 nection is also true of the other meat producers — the sheep and 



