EDITORIAL. 3 



not only won prizes but championships and grand championshijos 

 year after j^ear. A leading stock paper, in speaking of the last show, 

 says: 



" The agricultural college is fairly dominant in the meat-making 

 sections. They practice what they preach. . . . Facing the achieve- 

 ments of the past few years in the International arena, no critic 

 raises a note against the practical ability of the college force in the 

 breeding and feeding of meat-making animals. This fact alone is 

 worth all the International has cost, as it establishes on impregnable 

 foundations an agricultural education as expounded at the land- 

 grant colleges." 



That the educational value of the International is appreciated by 

 the colleges is attested by the attendance of both teachers and students 

 in large numbers. This year delegations of students were sent from 

 at least sixteen colleges, Missouri leading the list with three hundred 

 and ninety-five men. 



The exhibition of live stock, not only at the International but at 

 state shows, has been in the nature of a necessity during a certain 

 stage in the evolution of the agricultural college. But the time has 

 come when it is a debatable question in some of the colleges whether 

 they should not withdraw from prize contests and confine their 

 exhibits, if made at all, to animals shown for educational ends solely, 

 eliminating entirely the competitive feature. 



This is a question for each college to decide for itself. In some 

 States it may not be necessary longer to demonstrate the importance 

 of the college to the agricultural community, but in many places 

 such evidence of the practical character of the institution is helpful 

 in winning the cooperation of the farmers, and the exhibits themselves 

 have an educational value. In all cases, however, the spirit of com- 

 mercialism and shrewd competition should be absent, and the plain 

 effort should be to educate the people by furnishing illustrations of 

 the application of scientific principles to the practical affairs of 

 breeding and feeding. 



The past twenty-five years has witnessed great improvement in the 

 judging of live stock. There is a relation of external form to func- 

 tion and to the value of the dressed carcass. This is illustrated by the 

 gradually closer agreement between the ratings of animals on the 

 hoof and on the block in the slaughter tests at the International. 



Until lately the study of the conformation of animals has been ex- 

 tremely superficial, but recently, both in this country and in Europe, 

 investigations have been reported which show that the relation of 

 form to function in domestic animals has taken on a more serious 

 aspect. For instance, at the Missouri Station the changes taking 

 place in the body conformation of steers when kept on maintenance 



