DAIRY AND SEED IMPROVEMENT MEETINGS, 249 



these meetings I have learned much about the whole business 

 of farming; how to care for the cows, how to produce better 

 feed for them and more of it at less cost; to improve my land; 

 to care better for my horses; to make a little profit out of a 

 few hogs and to raise calves in such a way that they will make 

 profitable dairy cows. 



I don't want you to think that I have become an expert dairy- 

 man in 18 months, but I do know that the cow test association 

 has given me a big boost in the right direction. I have heard 

 several farmers say, "Oh, that is all right enough for the man 

 who has plenty of money and can afford to hire a young man 

 to putter around testing his cows." 



I am speaking from the standpoint of a man heavily in debt, 

 who is trying to win out, and also to bring up his family to have 

 the advantages that belong to a farmer's family, and I know 

 tliat if I live 20 years, the money that it costs me to belong to 

 this association will return to me many times. I know that 1 

 shall be thousands of dollars better off because of what I am 

 learning through this assodation. 



Milking and other chores have changed from drudgery to 

 something to be enjoyed. The hired men take more interest; 

 they watch each cow and her milk sheet and grain rations as 

 closely as I do. Isn't that worth the $3 a month it costs me to 

 pay the cow tester ? Go and ask the men who have belonged to 

 an association two or three years. You will find that the men 

 who are sticking to it and taking an interest in it are becoming 

 the most successful dairymen in this state. They will tell you 

 that they could not keep house without it. 



I have just one more point to make and it looks to me like 

 the best one yet. Some one has said that if a man can make 

 a better mouse trap than his neighbor has, though he live in a 

 wilderness, the world will make a beaten path to his door, if 

 we have some good cows in our herds, those who read our farm 

 papers will find it out, when they read the monthly reports of 

 our testers, and the men who want first-class cows are pretty 

 sure to go where they are, even if they should happen to be 40 

 miles from a railroad. I received a letter a few days ago from 

 a man who had heard of my herd of cows through the cow 

 test association, inquiring for heavy milking cows. I wrote 

 him what I had and he came to see them. When he got there 



