48 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Oct. 



to Stimulate an interest in plant breeding. The book has been 

 revised, and recently there has been published DeVries' "Plant 

 Breeding " and Coulter's " Fundamentals of Plant Breeding," and 

 for animal breeding we have had, for some time, Shaw's books on 

 "Farm Animals and Animal Breeding," Plumb's "Types and 

 Breeds of Farm Animals," also Davenport's "Principles of Breed- 

 ing," and recently there has been published Harper's " Breeding 

 of Farm Animals." But as yet the Experiment Stations and the 

 United States Department of Agriculture have published little that 

 help to explain the laws of breeding. The Connecticut Station 

 reports on com and the Maine reports on chickens are steps in 

 the right direction. 



But we must not spend all of our time talking about the 

 laws, what we want to know is what are the laws and what 

 should a farmer do to improve his plants and animals. Let me 

 give the things which a farmer needs to know first. It seems to 

 me that a man starting out to improve his plants or animals 

 should spend a large part of his time for reading, on the follow- 

 ing : 



1. The history of plant and animal breeding. 



2. The advantages of taking plants vs. animals or any particular 



plant or animal over other plants or animals. 



3. The laws of plant and animals breeding. 



4. Who should do the work of plant and animal breeding ? The 



farmer needs to study carefully to determine whether it is 

 his work or not. The Experiment Station men, some of the 

 College men and farmers with capital, talent and time should 

 certainly do most of the work in improving our plants and 



animals by breeding. 



» 



Sometime we are to learn the lesson that Denmark learned 

 years ago. We are to learn that breeding is a matter of too great 

 importance to be left to the individual farmers. We have already 

 made laws regulating the standing of horses. We may have to 

 make laws saying what animals may be kept for breeding cattle, 

 hogs and chickens. We at least may go so far as to have govern- 

 ment owned males for the use of the farmers who choose to breed 

 to them. 



