EDITORIAL. 1003 



especially if this fund can be supplemented by State funds so as to 

 _insure the conduct of the investigation on a sufficiently large scale. 

 ^It affords excellent opportunity for the exercise of research ability 

 and for investigation of the first rank. The results are needed not 

 onl}^ for their practical application but as a basis for teaching. 

 Breeding studies must go on in connection with the attempt to secure 

 economy of production through the development and perpetuation 

 of more efficient machines for converting food into products and the 

 securing of greater special adaptation. 



From being largely a matter of good judgment of animals, suc- 

 cessful breeding has come to have a more substantial basis in science. 

 Bakewell's good judgment of stock enabled him to develop the Dish- 

 le}' breed of sheej) and the Longhorn breed of cattle. Everj'^ feeder 

 knows that the individuality of the animal is an important factor 

 in feeding problems. The characteristics of animals of the same 

 species are subject to so great variations that it is necessary for the 

 successful stockman to be a good judge as to what animals will make 

 the most economical use of feeds. The past century has witnessed 

 a great increase in the number of good judges of stock. Under the 

 present training in our agricultural colleges the average student after 

 a reasonable amount of experience can jjick out the fit from the unfit, 

 (iood judges of stock are becoming more common. But given a pen 

 of good animals, the problem before the breeder is how to perpetuate 

 the good (qualities — how can the abilit}' to make an economical use of 

 feed be carried over to the next generation? 



Modern scientific investigation has contributed considerable light 

 upon this point. Microscopic study of the germ cells and embryonic 

 tissue has revealed the inner structure and the conditions which may 

 influence the incipient organism. Biometric treatment of the phe- 

 nomena of heredity indicates the degree to which in the long run a 

 continuous variation may be inherited; and above all the discover}^ 

 of Mendel's principles has made it possible to predict with a reason- 

 able degree of certainty what characters may be inherited. 



Experimental evidence has shown that the unit characters of which 

 each individual being is composed may be inherited independently; 

 that some of these units are dominant over others; that the recessive 

 characters can be inherited as a rule only when mated with recessive; 

 that all ancestors of the same degree do not contribute equally to the 

 hereditary qualities of the offspring. Mendel and other investigators 

 have jjroved that each character of an aninuil may be broken up into 

 its separate factors by experimental work, and that definite knowl- 

 edge may be obtained as to which characters blend and which are 

 alternative; which are dominant and which are recessive. 



