254 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



dines." However I would not advise bending it quite as far 

 as was suggested in a little anecdote. An old gentleman on the 

 train was very much taken with a bright little child who sat 

 near him. After a while he leaned over and said to the mother 

 of the child, "Madam, I hope your baby will grow into a good 

 and honest man." "I fear not," said the mother. "Why so," 

 said the old gentleman ; " 'As the twig is bent so the tree is 

 inclined,' you know." "Yes," replied the mother, "but this 

 particular twig is bent on being a girl and we are inclined to let 

 It have its own way." 



I have a cow that one year freshened in November and in 

 December produced 1.45 pounds of fat per day. Each month 

 for seven succeeding months she increased in butter fat pro- 

 duction until in the following June she was putting up 1.85 

 pounds. This is not a large amount, if we do not consider her 

 time of freshening. In a few days she freshened again. This 

 cow has a five-year-old daughter which this year, f reshenmg in 

 June, produced 1.35 pounds of butter fat per day in July, and 

 in August, in spite of the severe drought and poor feed in- 

 creased to 1.94 pounds. Her two-year-old daughter last year, 

 seven months after calving, put up her highest amount of but- 

 ter fat for the year. 



Another characteristic of this particular family is their high 

 test. The old cow averaged 6.1 one year, and her daughters 

 5.88 and 6.48. I had another cow that would never give over 

 35 pounds of milk per day, but she tested high and would hold 

 such a steady flow throughout the year that it was nothing un- 

 usual for her to produce over a pound per day four to six 

 weeks before freshening, and the second year she was the 

 highest producing cow in the association. Her daughter, due 

 to freshen the 15th of September, in August produced 1.90 

 pounds of butter fat per day. 



I am not giving you these results from my herd because I 

 consider them remarkable but simply to show the true value 

 of cow testing work to the dairyman who is trying to build up 

 a herd of profitable daiiry cows. These are only a few instances 

 of what I found to be true by careful study in the majority ot 

 cases as well as in my own herd. These are results which in 

 the first year's work you would not get much benefit from, but 

 which in succeeding years are very valuable, each year making 



