l6o MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



illy afford to ignore the question — whether or not he will interest 

 himself in the matter of breeding pure bred stock? 



Throughout the corn and tame grass belt of this country of ours 

 the best farm lands have become so valuable — worth so much money 

 per acre — competition so close and margins on staple products so 

 narrow, that the farmer who breeds, feeds and markets the low grade 

 or scrub animal, be it horse, cow, hog, sheep, or any one of our better 

 known domestic animals, cannot hope to do so and realize above the 

 bare cost of production, indeed he can count himself lucky if his time 

 has not been given to the running of machinery of the farm at a loss. 



No American citizen should be content in this country, fraught 

 with such wonderful possibilities, to run his business upon the plane of 

 bare maintenance, for, in the great, broad sense of the term, we can- 

 not long stand still, but must either advance or go backward. 



Should the above propositions be admitted, and we think they 

 must be, then the question of a remedy arises. We will not under- 

 take to say that the pure bred stock business, of itself, i5 a "cure all" 

 for the multitude of ills which beset the farmer in the management and 

 execution of his business ; but we do unhesitatingly assert that the 

 farmer of average intelligence who will earnestly put himself to the 

 interesting and pleasant task of studying the pure bred stock busi- 

 ness, and you will then gradually and cautiously put into actual prac- 

 tice the sound principles which he may learn from reading, observation 

 and experience, will have taken a long stride toward correcting many 

 of the symptoms suggesting stagnation, unthrift and everything an- 

 tagonistic to the principles of progress as applied to farming and farm 

 life as a pleasant, dignified and noble occupation. Those who for one 

 or several reasons have failed to give the matter of breeding pure bred 

 stock any serious consideration and. therefore, have never taken the 

 first step : or those who have concluded because some erratic fellow 

 who had more enthusiasm than sense, capital or experience, failed ; 

 it would, therefore, be foolish, if not dangerous, to invest in pure 

 bred stock, will doubtless, and of right should expect us to point out 

 the way in which they can safely start in this business with the rea- 

 sonable assurance of success to the extent that will bring about finan- 

 cial, educational and moral uplift. To do this to the entire satisfac- 

 tion of myself will be a task for which I confess my inability, but. 

 nevertheless, I shall always be found willing to contribute my mite 

 toward bringing about the desired results. The class of men with 

 which we have to deal in this connection may be divided into three 

 groups; first are those who are hard-headed, ignorant and will not 

 listen to argument or be convinced even after actual demonstrations 



