1916.] LAWS OF PLANT AND ANIMAL BREEDING. 49 



But we must stop knocking. We must give all honor to men 

 such as Connecticut has running her wonderful laying contest. 

 We must learn that the head oi the poultry department at the 

 Maine Experiment Station is working in the interests of the 

 farmers even if his announcement of the Mendelian laws does 

 hurt some of the fanciers. Burbank, Apple Seed Johnnie, Patton, 

 and a score of breeders who have given us superior plants, must 

 become known to us. We must hold up the men who have 

 achieved and given us superior plants and animals as men worthy 

 of emulation. We must read about them and teach about them 

 in our schools. Instead of saying that they are working against 

 God, we must see clearly that they are workers with God to make 

 this a better world in Which to live. 



Luther Burbank has given us the image of a new civiliza- 

 tion when he says : " The vast possibilities of plant breeding can 



hardly be estimated These possibilities are not for one 



year or our own time or race, but they are beneficient legacies for 

 every man, woman, or child who shall ever inhabit the earth. 

 And thus with better and still better fruits, nuts, grain and 

 flowers, will the earth be transformed and man's thoughts turned 

 from the base destructive into the nobler productive ones, which 

 will lift him to higher planes of action towards that happy day 

 when man shall offer his brother, not bayonets and bullets, but 

 richer grains, better fruits and fairer flowers." 



It may be well before we begin the discussion of the laws of 

 Plant and Animal Breeding, to take a minute to think of the steps 

 to be taken when one begins to breed plants or animals. 



1. Get an ideal in mind, an ideal of the best possible plant or 



animal. 



2. Master the laws of breeding. 



3. Get the best possible individuals with which to begin. 



4. Breed so as to produce variation toward the ideal desired. 



5. Select and preserve for breeding, the most desirable indi- 



viduals. 



6. Test the desirable individuals for prepotency or breeding 



powers. 



