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( >f coarse, it goes without Baying that no matter how well you care for a soil, how 
carefully you rotate your crops, how much care you take to grow leguminous crops 
to increase your stores of nitrogen, or how much these stores may help to loosen 
other locked-up mineral foods, there will come a time when you must feed to the 
soil, however rich, something to take the place of that which is taken away. The 
aim of the practical fanner is to return to the soil just as much as possible of what he 
takes out, and even a little more. 
Thus the farmer himself has a duty to perform. No matter what we may do we 
must look forward to the time when the soil must be fed. We owe a debt to poster- 
ity. We have no right to take from posterity the means of subsistence. The agri- 
culturist of to-day who does his duty to his farm must pass it to his successor in a 
more fertile condition than that in which he receives it. The man who does not do 
this robs posterity; and it is just as much a crime to roh future generations as it is to 
rob those who are living on the earth to-day. Therefore, in agriculture we have a 
moral duty to perform which we should not forget; and that is, the duty which we 
owe to those who are to come after us. Let us, then, as agricultural chemists and 
practical agriculturists, see to it that the fields which we till shall be, when they pass 
from our hands, better producers than when we received them. 
The address of Doctor Wiley was discussed by C. G. Hopkins, B. W. Kilgore, and 
others. 
The following paper, prepared by ('. S. Plumb, of Ohio, was, in the absence of the 
author, read by title and ordered printed: 
Methods of Investigation Relating to the Breeding of Animals. a 
There are no fixed methods of investigation relative to the breeding of animals. 
While most of our present breeds of live stock have been improved through the 
intelligent action of the mind of roan, there has been comparatively little method 
in the work. Great breeders have lived and have brought animals up to a high stage 
of development, but their methods have been rather general than specific and that of 
the practical man rather than the scientist, An immense amount of literature has 
been published on the subject of feeding and men have written much on their methods 
of feeding, but not so concerning breeding. The live-stock journals of to-day print 
articles on feeding in great number, with but few contributions on breeding that 
bring out new ideas. Reports on feeding experiments emanate from our experiment 
stations with frequency, while those on breeding animals are among the things to be. 
As I have remarked elsewhere, h there are men in the service of some of our experi- 
ment stations who have made themselves famous as investigators and authorities on 
feeding, but no one as yet has brought fame to himself for his discoveries in this 
special field of breeding. 
Under these circumstances it might be fairly assumed that no very extensive 
methods of investigation have as yet-been developed, so far as breeding animals goes. 
There are a few isolated cases in which practical breeders have with much care and 
persistence worked at problems of breeding, and have secured most interesting and 
valuable results. Examples occur where the people of a region have united to 
improve a breed or type and have accomplished their object. Instances have also 
occurred in continental Europe where the state has promoted the development of a 
breed or class of stock, while there are several instances of men more or less scientific 
working on problems of breeding worthy our attention. 
In order to throw as much light as possible on the methods used by some of the 
intelligent bleeders of the past I now propose to direct your attention to a number 
of examples, a consideration of which I am sure will be of benefit to all persons 
interested in improved live stock and the problems of the breeder of animals. 
It is very likely that in early times considerable intelligence was displayed in the 
breeding of certain animals, of which the Arabian horse may serve as an illustration. 
It is improbable, however, that there was much live stock of an improved type 
prior to the middle of the eighteenth century. Early writings do not indicate, it, 
and ( 'ulley. the firsl British author of a work exclusively on live stock, '' in describ- 
ing the breeds of farm animals in Great Britain, mentions but few compared with 
the considerable number of to-day. Culley was a prominent breeder at that time, 
a One of a series of unpublished lectures delivered before the Summer Graduate 
School of Agriculture at the Ohio Stale University in July, 1902. 
h Lecture on breeding farm animals before the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, 
January IS, L902. 
■ Observations on Livestock, 1789. 
