478 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



compel the saving of every possible fragment of value. Substances that in 

 periods of greater abundance and an easier prosperity were heedlessly 

 dumped out as waste, are now carefully reworked to preserve whatever 

 residue of value may still be in them. For example, petroleum refineries 

 now produce from former refuse products, dyes that are supplanting madder 

 and other costly dye stuffs in the markets of the world. 



Just as this petroleum waste interferes with the madder business, so each 

 improvement in production displaces and renders practically worthless the 

 capital invested in the older and more costly methods. Thus, the Suez 

 canal, by shortening the route to India so much that steamers could carry 

 enough coal for the entire trip, made the steam voyage cheaper than the 

 sailing voyage, and thereby practically destroyed at one stroke the chief 

 value of the great fleet of sailing craft formerly employed in that trade. In 

 little more than three years later, further improvements in marine engines 

 made these steamers themselves behind the times, to be superseded by the 

 more economical new models. 



So in cotton mills ; it is in the latest improvement of machinery, whereby 

 the last one- tenth of a cent per yard is saved, that the whole margin of profit 

 lies, and to use the older machinery is more costly than to sell it for old 

 iron. 



Such a degree of specialization of occupations as takes place in most lines 

 of manufacturing is neither practicable nor even desirable on the farm. 



For there, this very need of saving and working over the residues requires 

 that stock should be raised on the same farm that grows the stock food so 

 that the residue, the manure, may go back for the fertilization of the soil. 



The real test of the value of any animal considered as a productive 

 machine is the return that it makes for food consumed, and on this basis 

 the scrub is an antiquated machine and must give place to the later 

 improvements. 



Do you ask what will become of the breeders when all the scrubs have 

 been turned into beef? Just what has become of the inventors after their 

 improvements have been universally adopted. They will continue to develop 

 yet further betterments and these improvements will be as eagerly sought 

 as former ones have been. 



The question is often asked me as to the relative merits of the different 

 breeds. You might as well ask what are the relative merits of the apple 

 and the pear. Each is for a different purpose, and each breeder should 

 determine his choice upon his needs ; but in no case choose a breed which 

 he is prejudiced against, for it will be impossible for him to appreciate and 

 develop its strong points. 



The principles of breeding are primarily two — heredity and variation. 



Heredity is the transmission of characters from parents to offspring, and 

 by means of it alone you are only able to fix characters which you already 

 have. There is nothing new in it. It is the principle of conservatism. 



Variation is change. It is that wherein the individual differs from its 

 ancestry, and often seems as though it had no other cause for being than 

 merely for the sake of change. 



Heredity is the impress of all the characteristics of all ancestors from the 

 beginning, and our business is to so combine different elements as to make 

 prominent what we want, and to practically make latent all undesirable 

 characteristics. 



