482 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



That ideal being the animal that could transmute the products of their fields 

 into the largest amount of milk and its products. 



I think there can be no question of the dairy characteristics of the Holstein- 

 Eriesian breed as thus evolved in the land to whose fame and wealth they 

 have so largely contributed. It has remained for American skill, however, 

 to take the choicest specimens that could be found in Holland, and not only 

 to equal but eclipse the largest recorded production in the home country, 

 on American soil and under American management. But bear in mind that 

 these results have only been realized when the American breeder has taken 

 for his ideal that which has enabled his over-the-sea contemporary to achieve 

 success, viz: the development of the dairy cow, the intensifying of qualities 

 valuable for this special purpose. 



FUTURE DEVELOPMENT. 



But what of the future ? Breeds of cattle, under natural or artificial 

 conditions, do not stand still. The unalterable law of advance or retro- 

 grade applies here as forcibly as in any other domain of man's effort. 



Breed characteristics, while they may not be entirely eliminated, may be 

 very greatly modified by change of conditions and management, by the 

 endeavor to utilize the animal in other directions than those in which it has 

 been improved and developed. To illustrate, we may secure delicacy, fine- 

 ness of bone and low per cent of offal at the expense of size, vigor and 

 toughness. We may breed so as to sacrifice milking qualities for beef pro- 

 duction. We may disperse, weaken and modify those characteristics that 

 have become hereditary only as the product of years of persistent and wisely- 

 directed effort on the part of the breeder. It takes a long time to establish 

 breed characteristics so that we can depend on their being transmitted to 

 offspring. A very short time in a course of opposite, or antagonistic pro- 

 cedure, will vitiate very greatly, almost destroy, these characteristics. 



And so to my mind the future success of the breed, the holding of its 

 present place and achieving greater victories depends on your working on 

 the same line, to secure in more perfect degree the realization of the ideal 

 of your Dutch predecessors, viz., the best dairy breed of cattle. If you 

 have it today, be thankful, "but remember that only eternal vigilance, a 

 continuance in the same line, with the same object that has brought the 

 breed to its present position kept ever in view, can maintain, perpetuate and 

 add to its excellence. 



BEEF QUALITIES SECONDARY. 



Do not be distracted by any clamor that the breed is wanting in beef 

 quality. That is a matter of very little consequence when compared with 

 its value for the dairy. Don't be persuaded to displace your ideal cow for 

 the dairy for a myth, an uncertainty. Don't follow in the lead of some 

 unthinking enthusiasts, who are full of wild theories which invariably side- 

 track them a good distance from the home station, where practical results 

 are realized. Your ideal cow has not sprung up in a night, nor come forth 

 full panoplied in her most valuable qualities from airy nothingness. Avail 

 yourselves of all the knowledge and science of this ultra scientific age. It 

 may help you in methods and management, in your efforts to improve the 



