378 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Canada and could not be here, but we have with us Professor 

 Thos. Shaw, of The Orange Judd Farmer, who is going to 

 take Mr. Trows place on the program. 



ADDRESS. 



Pkof. Thomas Shaw. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I count it an honor to be per- 

 mitted to tallc to the men of a state who are malting more dollars 

 per acre out of their land than the men in many other states in the Union. 

 I must say, Mr. Chairman, that I feel a little diffident in talking to men 

 who can do that, for it tells me as plainly as language can tell it that 

 these men know what they are doing. 



I was introduced to you to take the place of Mr. Trow, who is not here 

 today. I would rather not, consulting my judgment and being called upon 

 on such short notice, I would rather not take the subject which was 

 allotted to him, but 1 think, gentlemen, that 1 can take a subj-cr that I 

 hope will be of some interest and profit to you. I would like to talk to 

 you on the subject of breeding live stock on the farm. You l^^now. farmers, 

 as well as I can tell you, if you have thought on the subject and doubt- 

 less you have, that this is a subject that has depths in it so great that 

 it will take a giant over his head at the very first channel, but 

 at the same time, it is very fortunate for the farmer that it is so; also 

 it has shallows in it in which even a child can wade. 



I am not going to talk to you much gi,bout the three great laws that 

 govern breeding, that is to say the first law that like produces like, 

 the second law that like does not produce like and the third law or the 

 law of atavism, that is the progeny shall be like some remote ancestor 

 but not like the immediate ancestors. My contention is that the first 

 law of breeding is the more prepotent of the three. I know, Mr. Chair- 

 man, that some men, and some good men, do not agree with me in that 

 theory, but they are not going to change my mind unless they bring to me 

 reasons different from those that have been presented to me before on 

 this subject. I still cling to the view that the first law of breeding, that 

 like produces like, is the strong and fundamental law, is tlie anchor 

 that enables the men engaged in this business to make progress in their 

 work. The law that like produces like means that the progeny shall be 

 like the ancestor. The law of variation, or the law that like does net 

 produce like, means the progeny shall not be like the ancestors. Here 

 are two laws and they *.r« appar«-ntly one against the other. It is as 

 clear to me as the day light that if the law of variation were stronger 

 than the law that like produces like, that a farmer could never be sure 

 of making any sure progress in breeding, so I cling to the view that the 

 law that like produces like is stronger than the other law. 



