national resources, and St. Louis has the proud distinction of be- 

 ing the greatest market on earth for this animal. 



While the present is an era of great accomplishments in the 

 improvement of domestic animals, it must be admitted that few 

 if any new species are being won from the wild state in this or 

 other countries. The list of domestic .animals remains about what 

 it was two centuries or more ago; in fact, the falcon and other 

 species that were once so generally employed in the sport of "hawk- 

 ing" have been allowed to return to the wilderness — the only 

 case, according to Shaler, in which man has abandoned a species 

 once domesticated. It is said that the camel is gradually retiring 

 from active service for man, but it is not likely to «be entirely 

 superseded for many years to come. Even the horse and the dog 

 are of less economic importance now than when they helped man 

 to explore and colonize the vast wilderness of a few generations 

 ago. 



If our progress in the arts and industries has somewhat 

 depreciated the value of a few of our domestic animals it has more 

 than compensated for this depreciation by discovering new uses for 

 animal products and thus vastly extending the utility of the animal 

 kingdom as a whole. This age excels all others in the variety and 

 extent of the services derived from animals. No animal product 

 is wasted. Indeed, every item in the inventory has its market 

 value today. It is not surprising, therefore, that the agricultural 

 world devotes its best efforts to the problems of livestock. Our 

 experiment stations in this and foreign countries, are investigating 

 the food of farm animals in order to discover the proper dietary 

 for the work-horse, the milch-cow, the porker, or the laying-hen. 

 The agricultural chemist is studying the effect of different diets 

 on the quality of manures produced and utilized on the farm; 

 The Bureau of Animal Industries, an indispensable adjunct to the 

 other activities of our United States Department of Agriculture, 

 is investigating the vast field of diseases of domestic animals and 

 experimenting on the means of preventing or curing them. Re- 

 sults of momentous significance have been attained in the study 

 of trichina, Texas fever, hog cholera, tuberculosis, sheep-scab, tape- 

 worms of poultry, and a host of other parasitic and infectious dis- 

 eases which constantly prey upon our useful animals. It would be 



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