608 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



THE RELATION OF ^ ETERINARY EDUCATION TO ANIMAL 



HUSBANDRY. 



By DR. LEONARD PEARSON, State Veteyinarian, Harrtshurg. 



The fertility of the soil, and an advancing profitable agriculture, 

 cannot be maintained without animals. Animal husbandry is es- 

 sential to agricultural progress. 



The animal husbandry of Pennsylvania is one of the leading 

 industries of the state, and is the chief reliance of a large propor- 

 tion of the farmers that work the quarter of a million farms within 

 our borders. The farmer depends upon animals to till his fields, 

 to take his products to market and his family to church, to supply 

 his most nutricious food and a large proportion of his income. 



What value would there be in a |oo,000,000 hay crop, (these figures 

 relate to the crops of Pennsylvania for 1905) as under present con- 

 ditions, if it were not for animals to eat it? What would be done 

 with straw from 1,600,000 acres of wheat, and with a |15,000,000 oat 

 crop were it not for animals? About 1,500,000 acres is devoted each 

 year to the production of corn, worth about |30,000,000, most of 

 which is fed to animals on the farms where it is grown. 



The rough, bulk}', unmarketable products of the farm are con- 

 centrated by animals and converted into such commodities as pork, 

 beef, mutton, wool, poultry, eggs, milk and horses for which there 

 is a ready market. Just as the weaver uses the loom to tranform his 

 raw materials into carpets, cloth and lace, so the farmer uses 

 animals to manufacture grass and other crude products of his fields 

 into refined and higher priced articles. 



The profits of farming depend to a very large extent upon the 

 eflSciency of the farmer's machines, both mechanical and animals. 

 If the animals do good work, that is, if they return a good yield 

 in the form of growth, eggs, milk, wool or labor for the food they 

 consume, they are profitable; if they do not return a fair yield 

 of these products, they are unprofitable. The efficiency, and "that 

 means the profit of the animal machine, depends upon its adaption 

 to its condition of life, and upon its adaptation to its conditions of 

 life and upon its health. The adaptation of domestic animals to 

 special uses results from the work of the special breeder. Breeders 

 have achieved some marvelous triumphs in the way of increasing 

 efficiency and in producing and fixing form, type and breeds. 



We are profoundly impressed when viewing a well executed 

 statue by the imagination and skill of the artist. The sculptor 

 forms in his mind a picture of the image that he wishes to express; 

 then the image is modeled in clay and afterwards chiseled from stone 

 or cast in bronze. The result is a likeness of a living form; it may 

 be a charger, with ears and eyes alert, with dilated nostrils, tense 

 muscles, the whole poise denoting readiness to respond to the touch 

 of the motionless rider. Such a life-like picture in bronze is a 



