46 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



market and buy whatever it is necessary for him to have in order 

 to give his cows a complete, sufficient ration. We must have 

 these two elements, protein and carbohydrates, and, whatever 

 may be in store for us in the future, today, here and now, our 

 farms are far better adapted to the production of the carbon- 

 aceous foods than they are to the production of protein foods. 

 So when a man attempts to produce upon his farm a sufficiency 

 of protein for his herd, he is attempting to produce something 

 which that farm is not so well adapted to produce. The future 

 may change that. We may sometime be able to produce alfalfa 

 here in j\Iaine. \Yq may have the soy bean or the cow pea, or 

 some other crop come to the point of development where we can 

 produce it profitably, but today those crops are not so well 

 adapted to our soil and conditions ; though doubtless it may be 

 wise for the farmer to try some of them in an experimental way, 

 especially alfalfa. What are the crops that are adapted to our 

 soil and conditions? Obviously, as it seems to me, first and 

 foremost is the great crop of corn. That I believe to be the 

 corner stone of successful dairying in New England. So 

 strongly do I believe this, that if I were compelled to give up the 

 production of corn on my farm, and the handling of the corn 

 crop through the silo, I should cease to make dairying my princi- 

 pal business. I do not believe I could make a dollar out of it 

 without the corn crop and the silo. I believe in the importance 

 of the corn crop for two reasons : First, it gives you a quantity of 

 fodder which nothing else will rival. I have seen, right up there 

 in the shadow of the Green Mountains where I live, 25 tons of 

 good, wholesome feed for the cow growing on a single acre. 

 Further than that, it gives you a certain quality of feed that you 

 cannot get in any other way. Do not misunderstand me. I am 

 not referring now to its chemical make-up, but to a different sort 

 of quality. \\'hat is the best feed for your cow ? There would 

 not be the slightest difference of opinion on this point. The best 

 feed the cow ever gets is the green, succulent pasture grasses at 

 their best. Why are they the best feed ? Is it because they are 

 well balanced? Go to your Experiment Station and Prof. 

 ^^^oods would make up for you a ration of oat straw and cotton- 

 seed meal which would contain just as good a chemical formula 

 as your pasture grasses, but could you fool the old cow with that 

 ration ? O no ! The one ration has the qualities of succulence, 



