138 
of the scientific control of the conditions involved. In but one phase of the experi- 
ment important facts have been discovered; these, as the work proceeds, maybe sup- 
plemented or modified by other facts and suggestions, so that when the experiment 
is completed in all its phases something may have been added to the sum of human 
know ledge. 
F. B. Mnmford, of Missouri, read the following paper: 
Experiments in Animal Breeding. 
Applied agriculture is far from being an exact science. Throughout the entire 
history of agriculture until recent times the cultivator of the soil has pursued meth- 
ods the results of which could not be predicted with any degree of certainty. This 
lack of exactness has been due largely to the natural conditions which surround the 
activities of agriculturists. The uncertainties of climate, soil, and inherited tenden- 
cies of plants and animals employed by the farmer have all conspired to render his 
occupation one of the most uncertain and unreliable of all those known to man. 
While this has been true, and it is largely true at the present time, the investiga- 
tions of experiment stations in more recent times have succeeded in reducing many 
of the practices of agriculture to an exactness which would in earlier times have 
been considered wholly impossible. This is well illustrated by the results of the 
experiments in feeding. The cattle feeder of to-day can estimate with considerable 
accuracy the efficiency of a given amount of corn fed in connection with clover hay 
to cattle of a certain age and condition. The swine feeder knows that a bushel of 
corn when fed to pigs weighing 100 pounds will yield in all probability a certain 
delinite amount of pork. This ability to estimate the results from feeding operations 
has been due entirely to the accurate, painstaking work of the experiment stations. 
Not only in feeding have the stations contributed to the exactness with which the 
science of applied agriculture is now conducted, but in many other lines the stations 
have successfully prosecuted investigations whose results have made it possible 
for the farmer to carry on his business in a much more exact and profitable manner. 
The teachers of agronomy, animal husbandry, and dairying now speak with assur- 
ance and definiteness on many of the most fundamental facts underlying these 
subjects. The teaching of agriculture, which a few years ago was merely an expres- 
sion of opinion on the part of the teacher, usually unsupported by any actual 
investigations, has now been reduced to a much more thoroughly organized subject. 
ANIMAL BREEDING AX EXCEPTION'. 
While all this may be said with perfect truth of the subjects mentioned above, it 
is also equally true that in the subject of animal breeding the experiment stations 
have given practically no help whatsoever to the modern teacher of this subject. 
The most important investigations which throw light upon the practical work of the 
breeder of live stock were performed in most cases many years ago and by men not 
connected in any way with experiment stations. With one or two exceptions only 
the experiment stations of the United States have not even attempted to solve the 
problems which confront the breeder. The breeder of live stock to-day is engaged 
in the most uncertain of all the operations conducted by the farmer. He is still 
dependent upon "rule of thumb" methods. He has no great and guiding principles 
whi( h, when followed, can be relied upon to produce desired results with certainty, 
lie must still cut and try with the hope that some of his plans may result in success. 
Recognizing, as we must, this condition which exists, we may well ask ourselves the 
question whether it is possible for the experiment stations to investigate in a scientific 
manner the important problems which confront the breeder. If we decide that 
there are problems to be solved, and that these problems are proper subjects of 
investigation on the part of the experiment stations, then there can be no valid 
excuse for neglecting longer this branch of animal husbandry. It must be admitted 
that investigations calculated to throw light upon the complex problems of the 
breeder are among the most difficult and expensive of any which have so far been 
undertaken by the American stations. The element of time is also a factor which 
cannot be ignored. The station that undertakes to successfully prosecute experi- 
ments in animal breeding that shall yield valuable results, must not expect immedi- 
ate results, and may possibly hope only, to point out the way for others who will 
take up this question later. It is probably this fact that has deterred most stations 
from taking up this line of investigation. 
