822 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



MR. HERR: I think the gentleman must be talking about corn 

 ears and not shelled corn; very few people ever grow a hundred 

 bushels of shelled corn to the acre. 



The CHAIRMAN: We will now have the first number on the pro- 

 gram, which is an illustrated "Chalk Talk on the Dairy Cow," by 

 J. D. Detrich, of West Chester, Pa. 



Mr. Detrich spoke as follows: 



CHALK TALK ON THE DAIRY COW. 



By J. D. Detrich, West Chester, Pa. 



Mr. Chairman: The whole human race have always been very 

 much interested in the subject of production and reproduction, and 

 if we were to characterize this age of agriculture, we would call this 

 the age of breeding or of heredity. Whether it is the President of 

 the United States, or whether it is any citizen who has passed away 

 and done some noble service for his country, we are always ready to 

 write up his biography. We to-day are so thoroughly convinced of 

 the importance of selection for the purpose of advancing the inter- 

 ests of agriculture as well as breeding live-stock, that we have taken 

 a very deep interest in the selection of those animals that will do the 

 best and produce the best, and be of the most beautiful; and it is also a 

 subject of important consideration to determine the profit to be de- 

 rived from the pursuit of business along these lines. These things 

 have been fundamental interests from the time of Plato. They have 

 found their way to us through the universal human heart and mind 

 and will continue to interest us for all time to come, whether we 

 breed cattle, fowls, horses or plants, whether we view a landscape 

 decked with beautiful flowers or enjoy the verdure of summer, as 

 we look out over our fields. 



The human mind has the power to perpetuate and order the growth 

 of plant life or the conditions which govern animal life. The day will 

 come when the laws of marriage will be much more stringent than 

 they are at the present time, so that we may have fewer hospitals 

 and insane institutions, and all these things which are now provided 

 for the imperfect or diseased members of the human race. What is 

 humanity going to come to unless we regulate the laws of marriage? 

 No person wants to breed a lot of weaklings, and in order to avoid 

 that, you must make the conditions such as to produce the best and 

 those which live the longest. 



