240 AGRICUI.TURE OF MAINE. 



be the one to which the farmer first turns his attention. By 

 way of example : The Blacksburg Experiment Station in Vir- 

 ginia conducted some observations a few years ago and found 

 that by intelHgently expending $4.10 per cow on the cows ot 

 that locahty, an average increase in their production worth 

 $9.84 couTd be had. You may say to me, "That is pretty far 

 South;" but I wih also say that there are some very good dairy 

 herds in Virginia that are very well cared for. However, to 

 come nearer home, and to take a state of good dairy standing, I 

 will turn to New York State. I do not think there is any ques- 

 tion of its standing as a dairy state. There are cows that arc 

 kept well and cows that are kept poorly in New York. Prof. 

 H. H. Wing conducted an experiment in Central New York a 

 few years ago, I think in 1904, and he found by a careful study 

 covering a period of four years that milk and butter fat could 

 be produced as much as 20 per cent cheaper when cows were 

 well cared for and fed a well balanced ration than when poorly 

 cared for and fed an unbalanced and insufficient ration. 



Now if we are going about improving the herd, there is one 

 thing we must do above all other things, and that is, we must 

 either keep or have kept a record of the cost of production. 

 We have got to have a record of what every cow produces and 

 how much she consumes, and I recommend to you that you have 

 it kept through a cow testing association for there is no more 

 simple, and no more efficient, and no more economical way to 

 have a record kept than through a cooperative cow testing asso- 

 ciation. 



I think it is only necessary for me to speak in a general way 

 of the cow test association, as the most of you arc familiar witn 

 it. It is an organization of dairy farmers who are really in- 

 terested in dairying and want to know the facts about their 

 herds, and who employ a man to find out these facts for them. 

 That is in brief. To go into the history of cow testing asso- 

 ciations a little bit; — ^the first cow testing association in this 

 country was organized in 1905 at Freemont, Mich. Among the 

 very first states 'to take up the work after that was Maine. There 

 were no organizations formed between 1905 and 1908. People 

 seemed to want to find out what that one association would do. 

 In 1908, through the efforts of Dr. L. S. Merrill, a number ot 

 assiooiations were organized in Maine, but for one reason or 



