PART IV. FARM ANIMALS 



CHAPTER XVIII 

 FARM ANIMALS AND AGRICULTURE 



FARM animals form one of the most important sources of 

 wealth in the nation. The five most important groups 

 of animals, ranked according to their market value, are 

 horses, cattle, hogs, mules and sheep. If these animals 

 should all be sold, they would bring the enormous sum of 

 nearly six billion dollars, or sixty dollars for every man, 

 woman and child in the United States. 



1. Work Animals 



Farm animals serve several important uses: (1) they 

 provide food for man, (2) they work for him, and (3) they 

 supply various useful products. The total market value of 

 the working animals, horses and mules, is slightly greater 

 than that of the food producing group, cattle, sheep and 

 hogs. 



Using animals for work. Centuries ago man had not 

 yet domesticated the animals and trained them to work for 

 him. Since the uses of steam and electricity had not been 

 discovered, all labor had to be done by men themselves. 

 The implements used for cultivating the soil were all crude 

 and ineffective, and could only be operated by hand. It 



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