TRANSACTIONS OF STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 119 



lacking without due attention to the kinds and amounts of food given 

 the animals. A study of the balanced ration for milk production 

 should be carried on by every one who feeds a cow in order that he may 

 know how to mix the various foods at his command to bring the best 

 results. The cow needs to be fed a balanced ration in order that she 

 may give the largest amount of milk of which she is capable and still 

 keep her health and not lose in flesh. Aside from having the ration con- 

 tain the right proportion of protein, carbohydrates, and fat, due attention 

 should be paid to variety for the sake of the cow's appetite, and to suc- 

 culence for the sake of palatability and ease of digestion. Succulence 

 may be supplied, when pastures are dry, by roots of various sorts, sugar 

 beet pulp, soiling crops, and best and cheapest of all, by the use of the 

 silo in conserving food in its green and palatable state. Universal 

 study and attention on the part of all dairymen along these two lines 

 of breeding and feeding would in ten years increase the average yearly 

 production of California cows from 150 pounds of butter to the 300- 

 pound mark, which is now held by the cows of Humboldt. 



When we look at the manufacturing side of the dairy business, i. e. 

 butter-making, we find a very encouraging state of affairs. Creameries 

 in California are generally as well if not better equipped than in the 

 older dairy sections of the East. The most modern appliances^are here 

 more common; the refrigerating plant is oftener met with; and methods 

 for making print butter are more expeditious. Possibly the mechanical 

 side of butter-making has gone ahead of the intellectual, which could 

 be accounted for by reason of creameries being started faster than men 

 could be trained to manage them. This training has to be supplied in 

 the factory, with little opportunity for studying the principles under- 

 lying butter-making, and while men may and do become good butter- 

 makers in this way, they would undoubtedly do better and enjoy life 

 more had they the opportunity to take such a course of study as is given 

 in the modern dairy school. 



The cheese problem is one that demands immediate attention, for the 

 good work spoken for butter-making above cannot be applied to cheese- 

 making in California. While our full cream cheese has dropped 1^ or 

 2 cents per pound in the San Francisco market, Eastern Cheddar con- 

 tinues at the same high mark of 15 to 16^ cents. Although only a 

 few months on California soil I feel confident that we can make as good 

 cheese of any variety as can be made in the East, and if well-cured 

 Cheddars are to continue 40 to 50 per cent above California flats I wish 

 to see our home cheese-makers receive some of the profit. It is said 

 that most people like a soft, mild cheese, and the demand is so great on 

 some of our factories for this kind that in one factory in December the 

 cheese went to market when only two days from the hoop. The cheese 

 that is consumed when so new needs to be made by the cheddar process 



