Henry Baird Favill, AB, MD, LL.D., 1860-1916, a ... - University Library

534 HENRY BAIRD FAVILL
proper fertilization of your land it will run down in productiveness,
and in spite of all our knowledge the land has
gone down in productiveness. You and I know that it
is not a new story, but no matter how well we understand
it ourselves, the country at large has not adopted it as a
working formula.
Now the question is, whether a State like Nebraska,
with its resources of grain, hay, and everything that you can
take off the soil direct to market, should be so treated, or
whether this great State is going to learn the lesson of soil
fertility as other States have.
There is another great question, but it is a little more
of a personal question, which applies to all men who are
annually rearing purebred cattle : Do we understand fully
that the only excuse for our being in the purebred cattle
business is the grade cow?
Do we really understand that, until the product of our
best efforts of money and brains is embodied in the product
of our purebred cattle, and until that product is distributed
upon the grade cows of this country, we have accomplished
nothing? And up to that point, but stopping short
of that point, we are pla3dng nothing but an interesting
game. Do we realize that the purebred business has no
possible foundation except as to its value to the grade
cattle business, or until the young bulls we raise are distributed
among the grade herds of this country? Until
then, we have accomplished nothing, and we might as
well be out of the business. We must make the farmers
realize this.
In my own State of Wisconsin there are not 25 per cent of
the herds headed b}^ purebred bulls. It is largely because
the purebred men are not holding the real thought of their
work before themselves. We are apt to be carried away
by the high tests, beautiful shows, big records, big prices,
as well as all excitement and interest that occurs in the
purebred industry, and to forget that behind it all lies the