DAIRY FARMING. 23 



milked for a year or move till they become fat, can be sold to the 

 butcher without much loss and possibly with a little profit ; but the 

 greatest profit both to you and to us will come from the cutting off 

 of the line of descent so that poor cows shall not be allowed to pro- 

 duce more poor cows. We want you to keep jour best animals 

 for breeders, and we also want you to improve your stock every 

 3-ear until you shall have no ver}' bad cows either to sell or to kecj). 

 You can do this if you will and it will be of mutual benefit. You 

 have many good cows now. You are making butter and have an 

 abundance of skimmed milk for feeding to calves, and you have, 

 or may have, bj- taking proper care of them, as good [)astures as 

 there are in the world. With all these facilities you can raise good 

 milch cows at a profit to 3'ourselves and sell them to us for a sum 

 less than we can possibl}' afford to raise them. 



Y^ou must, however, raise such a class of cows as our market calls 

 for — good, healtln-, heart}-, fair sized animals that will give a large 

 quantit}- of good milk and capable of laying on fat with good 

 keeping and be in demand with the butchers as soon as they are 

 passed their prime as milkers. Y''ou may have such cows now 

 among your Jerseys, jour Durhams, your Devonsorj'our Ayrshires. 

 If so, keep them and breed from them with care. Our milkmen 

 will take their progeny as tenderlv and kindlj' as President Lincoln 

 received the foreign minister, who, on coming forward to be pre- 

 sented to the members of the cabinet, took the President aside and 

 whispered in his ear that he came from a distinguished family of 

 earls and counts. "Never mind," said Mr. Lincoln with an air of 

 assurance that must have been very consoling to the young man, 

 "Never mind, you will be treated just as well." If you will 

 send us good cows that M'ill fill the pail morning and night, week in 

 and week out, month after month, and not put their foot in it just as 

 the last strippings are drawn, we will pay you just as much for 

 them as though their pedigree were long enough to cover a whole 

 page in the herd book. Taking into consideration the present con- 

 dition of the milk market and the beef market, I cannot believe 

 that you had best confine yourselves to the extravagantly high 

 priced Jerseys for breeding the kind of cows which llu> milk far- 

 mers want. The milkmen desire more of a "general [lurpose" 

 cow than the Jersey has the reputation of being. They want a cow 

 that will give a large quantit}* of milk of ftiir quality, and one that 

 will at the end of her career make good saleable beef. You have 



