6 Breeding Plants and Animals. 



difficult than invention, but plants and animals cannot 

 well be patented, and securing remuneration for new 

 creations in the plant and animal world is a much more 

 difficult business proposition than securing profits from 

 improvements in mechanics. Society, through the gen- 

 eral government's patent law regulations, invests vast 

 sums in new inventions, thus encouraging invention. 

 Society, through aid to national and State experiment 

 stations, and through assistance to co-operating agen- 

 cies engaged in breeding plants and animals, and to 

 schools where breeding is taught, can stimulate the 

 production of improved and new varieties of plants 

 and animals, which will make this country lead the 

 world in improved seeds and breeding stock, as it now 

 leads in transportation and mechanics. 



The emphasis is shifting in breeding from some of 

 the time-worn principles to others just as old, but more 

 recently brought to the front. Broad business policies 

 are gaining recognition where general theories held 

 sway. Writers of the theory and science of breeding 

 are giving way to men who make history by improving 

 plants and animals. The current writer on breeding 

 problems is seeking the philosophy which is actually 

 producing the great breeds of animals and the new 

 varieties of plants. The scientists are learning to re- 

 snect the organizing qualities of the mind of Wallace, 

 who put the breeding of trotting horses on a scientific 

 basis. They are also learning to value the far-seeing 

 abilities of Burbank in his matchless work in plant 

 breeding. The practical breeders of plants and animals 

 are coming to see the profound changes produced by 

 breeders of fancy and pet animals and of ornamental 

 plants. Scientists are ready to study more earnestly 

 the philosophy of practical breeding, and practical men 

 of affairs are ready to put into operation new r theories 

 found to be of practical utility. 



No apology is made for gladly presenting my views 

 and experiences in these subjects. After being long a 

 breeder and a teacher of animal breeding a part of my 



