VI AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION 



are appended explanatory of the meaning of words in the book not famil- 

 iar to everyday life. 



We have reached a period of progressive farming — a period of the 

 application of the best and most approved methods with the view to the 

 largest and most profitable results. It is a period of sharp competition 

 when every industry to be successful must be directed with the detailed 

 knowledge of facts and conditions that determine success or failure. In 

 the general material progress, live stock interest has more than kept pace. 

 It has widened in scope and method and extended in its markets till it 

 has compassed the earth. In its highest development it is demanding the 

 application of scientific and practical up-to-date information. At no pe- 

 riod in history has the farmer and his product occupied positions so 

 commanding. The political economists have discovered the importance 

 and the dignity of the farmer's position as the producer of the world's 

 wealth as contrasted with the mere trafficker in what the farm produces. 

 In that product live stock stands as one prime essential, in all pervading 

 extent, in quick conversion to money, in vast volume and in profit. In 

 the evolution of quality its progress has been marvelous. In the care- 

 taking and in improved breeding is this progress and profit largely due. 



But it is a fact that in this book-making age there is no well authenti- 

 cated, systematic, up-to-date work in compact, convenient form accessible 

 to the farmer in which the known facts and principles of the art of im- 

 proving and breeding domestic animals, and of the causes, symptoms, 

 prevention and cure of diseases, are presented for popular study and easy 

 reference. Yet, such is the fact, notwithstanding the paramount imports 

 ance of live stock to the farmer, and the wonderful progress that has been 

 made in its improvement. The present effort is to supply this want. The 

 importance of the subject cannot well be overestimated. When we con- 

 sult statistics giving the millions of dollars invested in live stock in this 

 great country, when we consider that the bulk of this immense value is 

 distributed among those of minor wealth, as the farmer and small stock 

 owner, who have inadequate access to educated veterinary practitioners, 

 and who are not fully informed as to the practical principles applicable to 

 the most successful and profitable breeding, training and general care of 

 domestic animals, its importance is most apparent. Long experience and 

 observation lead to the belief that a carefully arranged and classified work 

 giving the facts in the art of breeding and general care of live stock, de- 



