HEREDITY AND ECONOMICAL 
PRODUCTION OF FOOD 
D. S. Burcu 
Bureau of Animal Industry, 
". S. Department of Agriculture 
ITHIN the last century, evolu- 
tion, used in a broad sense, has 
been unusually conspicuous in 
the field of mechanics and 
engineering. Just why that is true, 
while evolution among living creatures 
has progressed more slowly and has 
attracted less general attention, may 
be seen from a few well-known facts. 
EDUCATION HAS FOSTERED ENGINEERING 
PROGRESS 
Progress in any field, as a rule, is 
approximately in proportion to the 
amount of study given that field by 
persons of progressive thought and 
action. With the gradual development 
of the United States, engineering long 
ago became the life study of thousands. 
Opportunities were plentiful, and well- 
trained men were ready to take them. 
The examples and the successes of the 
first spurred others to similar training. 
The result attained was inevitable, and 
today the United States has not only 
great systems of railroads, irrigation 
projects, highways and mechanical in- 
dustries, but in addition it has thousands 
of people who are expert in various 
branches of such work and can press on 
to still greater and wider engineering 
achievements. 
Even in the rather specialized field of 
agricultural machinery we must re- 
member that the progress made is due 
to the work of many minds. A few 
conspicuous names, it is true, loom up 
above the rest, but countless improve- 
ments and refinements rather than a 
few revolutionary ideas have contrib- 
uted to the present advancement in 
labor-saving farm machinery. 
I have in mind the experimental staff 
of a firm manufacturing farm tractors 
and implements Every fall the chief 
designer and one or more of his assistants 
pack their grips for a circuit of State 
fairs. Mingling with farmers at the 
machinery exhibits, these specialists 
seek for new ideas and suggestions. 
In addition they try to learn what new 
implements or machines would be 
likely to meet with favor. 
Such efforts explain why American 
farmers are so well equipped with 
machinery that multiplies human labor 
in a way that has won the wonder of 
other nations: It explains also why 
with high-priced labor the United States 
can produce many, kinds of food, es- 
pecially grains, hay, and other bulky 
crops, so cheaply. But in the field of 
meat food products, so important to 
the vigor of a nation, our progress, 
though noteworthy, appears capable of 
extensive developments. 
The drift of thought has been so 
gradual as to attract slight attention 
by persons interested especially in 
evolution in the organic sense. Yet the 
enormous preponderance of effort in 
mechanical development is seen in the 
enrollment of almost any college or 
university having a wide range in its 
curriculum. A graduating class in a 
middle western university a few years 
ago included 400 students. Approxi- 
mately one-fourth were trained in 
engineering, while only sixteen—less 
than one-twentieth—were trained in 
agriculture, and only one of the sixteen 
had made a study of animal genetics. 
While such a striking ratio may not be 
typical today, especially in universities 
having strong agricultural courses, it 
indicates at least the subordinate place 
the study of genetics—from an agri- 
cultural angle—has occupied in the 
general field of education. 
