66 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



LIYE STOCK. 



Thursday Afternoon, 



The chairman of the session was Robert Gibbons, president of the Mich- 

 igan Live Stock Breeders' Association. It had been expected that pupils 

 from the State School for the Blind would be able to furnish music and 

 recitations, but owing to several cases of measles among the college stu- 

 dents, it was thought unwise to permit the pupils from the School for the 

 Blind to attend the meeting, and several musical selections were furnished 

 by the department of music at the College. 



The first address upon the program was upon "Principles of Live Stock 

 Breeding," by the Hon. W. A. Harris, of Chicago, formerly United States 

 Senator from Kansas, who had promised to be present, but was prevented 

 b}^ an important business engagement. Professor R. S. Shaw, of the Col- 

 lege, kindly consented to include this subject in his talk upon "Typical 

 Animals for Feeding," which was given at the close of the session. The 

 topics assigned to Hon. L. W. Watkins, of Manchester, "Economical Feed- 

 ing of Steers," and to A. M. Welch, of Ionia, "Feeding Sheep and Lambs," 

 were, in the absence of these gentlemen, ably presented by H. H. Hinds, 

 of Stanton, and N. B. Hayes, of Muir, abstracts of whose addresses are 

 given. 



The session was opened by the following address by the chairman : — 



IMPORTANCE OF LIVE STOCK HUSBANDRY. 



BY ROBERT GIBBONS^ DETROIT. 



It is with great pleasure that I greet you this afternoon, more especially 

 as the theme for discussion — live stock — is one in which I take a great 

 personal interest. It has been well said that agriculture is the surest 

 foundation for the nation's prosperity. It is a proposition that no 

 thoughtful man will question, for while everything else may fail, and 

 financial disaster and panics shut up factories, put merchants out of 

 business, and close up banks and mines, the earth, as it has since the 

 earliest history of mankind, will continue to bring forth its increase, and 

 finally enable the nation to recuperate from its losses. And this great 

 power of production, which is being extended year by year to meet the 

 growing requirements of the civilized world, does not destroy or injure 

 any other interest, but like a beneficent Providence aids and encourages 

 all others. It is agriculture which furnishes the inspiration for progress 

 and development; without its aid there can be neither. The great essen- 

 tials of mankind are food and clothing, and agriculture furnishes both. 

 The more liberally they are furnished the greater will be the development 

 of the individual and the nation. Civilization's progress, therefore, is 



