CHAPTER XXI. 



IJREEDIXG FUNK PERCHERONS 



Many lines of agricultural effort are progressing 

 more rapidly than animal breeding. Wonders are al- 

 ready being done in this line, but our present achieve- 

 ments will, no doubt, seem tame beside what may be 

 accomplished before many decades. Had we a man ir 

 animal breeding who had accomplished such wonderful 

 achievements as Burbank in plant-breeding, animal im- 

 provement would be given a new impetus. I am not 

 pessimistic over what has been done, but very optimis- 

 tic over what can and should be done. Men are needed 

 who- can do for artificial evolution evolution under 

 the influence of man what Charles Darwin did for 

 natural or historical evolution. Schools of the philos- 

 ophy and practice of breeding in its broadest sense 

 should produce such men. The subject is so broad; 

 the philosophy so deep ; the details so vast in number 

 and varied in character ; many of the facts and theories 

 so buried in abstruse reasoning; the human interests 

 affected are so diverse ; the economic and artistic needs 

 are so varied and capable of multiplication into such 

 a maze of forms, and the entire wealth at stake is so stu- 

 pendous that the science, art and business of breeding 

 form one of the largest human interests. The finding, 

 developing, measuring, making records of, emphasiz- 

 ing and purveying the blood of the -few germs with the 

 very highest projected breeding efficiency represent 

 greater riches than a Klondike. 



To further emphasize the subject and to incite con- 

 structive thought I will indulge in a line of specific 

 suggestions in breeding draft horses. For convenience 

 let us assume the point of view of the big seed company 

 in Central Illinois. Here nearlv two dozen men of one 



