The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1920-02-11
AGRICULTURAL ADVANCES DUE
TO EXHAUSTIVE TESTS
Governmental Agencies ARE Finding
Out Facts--Experiments FIRE.
quently Require Such Long
Periods That individuals Can Not
Afford to Engage in Them.

cIIOuS lHdJ lnQlS1QualS Can NOl
Afford to Engage in Them.
The scientific experiment is slow
process but it is the best way in the
world to get facts.
The slowness of it is one of the rea-
sons why the farmer, even though he
is u scientist, can not do the expert
ntents for himself. He has not the
time to devote to them. Then, some
times great many experiments have
to be tried before one is made that
produces the desired results. The far
mer can not afford the numerous ex-
periments that may not get satisfac-
tory results for the sake of the one
that does.
Here is an illustration of the kind
of experiment that, from the stand
point of the length of time it takes,
no farmer cuold undertake for him
self as business proposition. The
United States Department of Agri-
culture wanted to know whether the
milking tendency in beef cattle is
transmitted mainly by the dams
through the male line of descent, and
to what extent the milk-giving func-
ton OF the dam influences the beef
character of the progeny. An expert
ment to determine those facts was be-
gun in 1915. 1t will not be completed
until 1885. But at the end of that 20
year period the Department of Agri-
culture will know those facts, and
every farmer in the United States
may know them just as thoroughly as
if he had devoted 20 years of his own
life to working them out.
This is one of the experiments of
the Bureau of Animal Industry, and,
like all the experiments of that bureau
has as it's object the improvement of
live stock. But it has been repeatedly
proved that work for the improvement
of live stock always has an indirect,
and frequently direct, beneficial eff
feet on human beings. Here is an i'll
ustration of direct benefit: Horses
sometimes die of what is known as
forage poisoning. The Bureau of
Animal Industry began experiments
to determine the cause of that poison
ing. The bacillus botuiinus was in
criminated. Experiments were begun
to develop a serum that would protect
against botulinus poisoning. A sheep
was finally immunized and quantity
of serum made from it's blood Then,
one day, word came to the bureau that
a little girl had contracted botulinus
poisoning from ripe olives and was
dying. The serum-preparcd with the
idea of protecting horses against for
age poison--Was rushed from Wash
ington to New York, and the little
girls life was saved. Cases Of botul-
mus poisoning, from canned goods
and other foods, have frequently
caused the death Of entire families,
and there has previously been no re-
lief for it.
Experiments prove theories or dis
prove them, and one may be just as
significant as the other. There has
long been a theory that cow would
give more. milk if MIXED at regular
times every day than if MIXED ire
gularly. The Department of Agrcul-
ture tried it out on scale sufficient
ly large to make certain of the
facts, and found that, so far as pro-
duction is concerned, there is no note
worthy difference between regular and
irregular milking, although regular
ity is usually desirable for other rea-
sons. In the experiment the feeding
hours were regular throughout. More
difference might be found if both feed
ing and milking were irregular, as is
the case on many farms. 1t has al
ways been the common opinion, also,
l
she hod water constantly before her
than il she were watcrcd once or twice
a daV. The department is cXpcri-
mcnting on that, and has reached the
tentative conclusion that the advan-
taGc of water continuously lies mainly
in the saving Of labor rather than in
a greater production Of milk
There was another common theory
on which people were divided. Some
men said that a hog would do better
if he had water to waiiow in. Other
men Of equal experience said there
was nothing to it; that walow had
nothing to do with the prosperity of
hog. The department made some cX-
perimcnts. and found that a hog does
gain weight more rapidly if he has
access to a wallow than if he has not
There are other animal experiments
in progress sthat will require longer
periods than the 2O-year experiment
with cattle. Some inbrceding expert
mcntS arc in progress sthat have al
ready reached the twentieth genera
ton Of inbred animals. One series Of
experiments has resulted i'm the re-
creation of breed Of horses-thc
M0rgan-that, when the experiments
began, was thought to be lost to the
world. Other experiments are in pro-
ercsS with the object Of creating a
breed of American gcncral-purpose
horses, and still others for the cvolu-
ton Of the ideal cavalry horse.
Experiments are in progrcs Sto de-