502 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



the remarkable improvement in practical methods of breeding plants 

 and animals, for " during the past dozen years breeding has passed 

 the unorganized stage and has come under the domain of science." 

 The work in plant breeding has given definite results not onh?^ in 

 the production of better yielding varieties of many important crops, 

 but has also produced varieties more resistant to disease and unfavor- 

 able climatic conditions, as well as those of higher market quality. 



In the field of animal breeding '" cooperation of the Department 

 with State stations and farmers has begun to create new strains of 

 farm animals — carriage horses, in Colorado ; cattle for beef pro- 

 duction under southern conditions, in Alabama ; the cross of the horse 

 and the zebra, in Maryland; the reestablishment of the Morgan breed 

 of horses, in Vermont ; sheep especially suited to range conditions, 

 in Wyoming; a breed of milking Shorthorn cattle, in Minnesota; 

 draft horses, in Iowa; improved Holstein cattle, in North Dakota; 

 a breed of hens for high egg production, in Maine." 



No small ^^art of the improvement of agricultural production dur- 

 ing the period named has been due to systematic efforts to discover 

 and introduce promising seeds and plants, and it is stated that " from 

 this one feature of the Department's work many millions of dollars 

 are added yearly to our national production of wealth." 



The question of farm management is one of immense importance, 

 and it is stated that through the efforts of the State experiment sta- 

 tions, colleges of agriculture, and the Department of Agriculture 

 this complicated subject is being put on a scientific basis. 



" The planning of a new farm or recasting the field plan of the 

 old farm are being reduced to such form that they are profitably 

 taught in agricultural schools. A number of the experiment sta- 

 tions have determined the kinds of crop rotations which yield the 

 largest net returns for given soils and agricultural districts. Numer- 

 ous long-time experiments on State and branch experiment station 

 farms controlled by the Department are under wa-j^ to determine 

 those crop rotations and other methods of internal management of 

 the farm which will be most profitable and best adapted to the family 

 and other available labor. . . . Along this line of work important 

 progress has been made in aiding the farmer to put into practice re- 

 sults of scientific discovery." 



The improvements in agriculture have not been confined to in- 

 creasing the productive capacity of the area under cultivation, 

 but have extended to the reclamation and profitable utilization of 

 large areas hitherto considered worthless for agricultural production. 

 This is probably best illustrated in the great progress that has been 

 made during the period under consideration in the introduction of 

 methods of dry farming in the vast region included in the arid part 

 of the Great Plains. Under the guidance of the Department and the 



