1916.] LAWS OF PLANT AND ANIMAL BREEDING. 47 



the laws of breeding, but no poultry journal had as yet afcted on 

 the suggestion. The man was wondering if we must wait until 

 the old men now editing the poultry journals die off and we get a 

 new set of editors before the farmer can get hold of the laws of 

 breeding as they apyly in his poultry business. 



Besides the fact that the laws of breeding are locked up in 

 the reports of specialists, there are other reasons why they are 

 not well understood by the American farmers. Our people are 

 religious though not strongly sectarian. Up to this time the laws 

 of plant and animal breeding have been announced and hence 

 associated largely with people whom our masses were taught to 

 believe were in some way atheists. At the bottom of all our laws, 

 is the fact of evolution and we have associated evolution with 

 Darwin and the monkey theory and hence rejected both, that is, 

 we rejected the meat with the shell. We would not take the 

 kernel because we did not like the husk. 



A third reason why the laws of plant and animal breeding 

 have been slow to reach the common man is the fact that when 

 breeding or raising animals on the farm, we quickly get rid of the 

 poorest, and hence, by registering the best only, we are unable to 

 verify the laws by what we see on the farm. We select the best 

 ears of corn, we do not count the average or the nubbins. We 

 sell the worst looking chickens and hence we do not know how 

 many we had that were off color. We register only the better 

 cattle, horses, hogs and sheep. 



A fourth reason why the laws of plant and animal breeding 

 have not become the common property of the farmers is the fact 

 that the laws are new and have not been well established, 

 especially as to details and applications. The scientists were 

 fighting among themselves and the farmer very wisely thought it 

 best to stand by and referee the game. 



And lastly, the laws of plant and animal breeding have not 

 become a working part of the farmer's general information be- 

 cause no one has gone to the trouble to state the laws so that 

 they are usable on the farms of America. 



Twenty-five years ago this winter, before a New England 

 horticultural meeting. Dean L. H. Bailey gave his lecture on 

 hybrids. That lecture was added to, and finally became the little 

 book called " Plant Breeding." That little book has done much 



