"^2 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



to improve our herd from year to year we are constantly grow- 

 ing richer without any extra expense. 



We must have cows that have capacity for the work intended 

 for them, and the whole structure must tend in the one direction. 

 We cannot hope to get large quantities of milk from a cow with 

 a small udder, neither can she produce the milk to fill the udder 

 if she has not the capacity for taking and assimilating enough 

 food to do the required work. She must have lung capacity to 

 correspond with her frame, or we have a weak spot. Nor will 

 the lungs be of any use unless the opening of the nostrils is large 

 enough to fill the lungs at every breath. Her disposition must 

 be of the same capacity as the organs we have mentioned. In 

 short, a dairy cow, to be kept for profit, must be so constituted 

 and constructed that she will return the largest amount of milk 

 and butter for a corresponding consumption of feed, and the 

 more feed she will consume at a profit, the more valuable is the 

 cow for the dairy. When we have a cow with enough capacity 

 we are ready to do a business that even the potato farmers of 

 Aroostook county will be glad to pursue. 



After such a cow is selected it is necessary to give special 

 attention to her surroundings and feed. She must have clean 

 surroundings, plenty of pure air and sunlight, and be made as 

 comfortable as possible. She must have plenty of pure water, 

 and be fed such rations as can be used to the best possible 

 advantage. There are certain rules for feeding which have been 

 found by experiment to produce the best result, and tables of 

 feeds have been published by our experiment stations which are 

 of great value to the dairymen. The essentials of the ration 

 are protein, carbohydrates and fat, and it has been found by 

 experiment that certain quantities of each are necessary, and that 

 the ratio is very nearly the same for all cows. Rations made up 

 to correspond with this ratio are called balanced rations and if 

 we feed more of any ingredient than is necessary, we get no 

 benefit, and consequently it is wasted, with the result that our 

 ration is too expensive, and if we are dairying for profit, we must 

 give especial care that we are not w^asting feed, which is money. 



Protein is the expensive ingredient, and the one most difficult 

 to get in sufficient quantities to balance our ration. Most dairy- 

 men are raising their carbohydrates and fat, with what protein 

 they are able, and are buying the remainder in the concentrated 



