1891.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 139 



of the utmost importance. If the laws which govern all else 

 be practically known, and the knowledge of the part which 

 water plays in growth and production be wanting, our 

 efforts will not reach the highest success. It is not enough 

 that water is present in suitable quantities, it must be pala- 

 table and easily accessible ; just enough, and not too much. 

 Better a shortage of food than of water, better irregularity 

 in feeding than in watering ; for, if the ration be temporarily 

 deficient, and the vehicle for transporting the reserve stored 

 in the system be present, no great harm will result ; but, no 

 matter how much nutriment may be stored or otherwise 

 present, if the universal carrier, water, is lacking, not only 

 can no work of nutrition be done, but the system imme- 

 diately becomes feverish and diseased. So to the dairyman 

 I may say that if his herd, hoAvever poor, is made uncom- 

 fortable because of coldness or poorness or inaccessibility of 

 the water supply, he had better study hydraulics before 

 purchasing thoroughbreds. And to the grain raiser I might 

 say that he had better pay strict attention to setting free 

 more plant food by better culture, and to husbanding farm 

 manures, before investing in commercial fertilizers ; for 

 possibly, if he utilizes what he already has, according to 

 law, he will have little lack. And to all breeders and culti- 

 vators of plants may I not say that it might be better to 

 make it more comfortable for. the plants and animals which 

 are already possessed, in order that they may make the best 

 use of the operations of the laws which govern them, whether 

 they be scrub or thoroughbred, before purchasing that which 

 is too advanced for our present state of knowledge ? It is 

 possible that a part of what we have is good and that all that 

 is lacking is opportunity. As the stream cannot rise above 

 its source, so the animal cannot be better than its breeder. 

 And to the breeders of thoroughbreds I may say, that it 

 might be well to adopt the practice of that great Short-horn 

 breeder, Mr. Bates, — "never to sell a good animal to a 

 careless farmer." 



The Chairman. The professor told us in his opening 

 remarks that he was merely going to drive in a few stakes 

 and strike out a few furrows, and you were to set to and 



