No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 847 



Consider the dignity of the farmei-: He can turn to a bit of soil 

 and have it bring forth crops. In proportion as he complies with 

 the law of the Deity is he a man successful with his farm and flock. 

 If a man does not follow these laws he is doomed to have but 1,000 

 instead of 13,000. God is not going to feed a man's Hock which the 

 man has neglected to do himself. 



The system employed at the Flourtown farm is the soiling system 

 and we have found it satisfactory, because the animal is kept from 

 breaking up the field and because you can take your by-products and 

 foods grown and so balance them that some of the cows will milk 330 

 days in the year. Who heard of a balance ration 35 years ago? Who 

 heard of a silo 50 years ago? Who heard of our breeding of cattle 

 until a few years ago? Some persons say that we do not hear of the 

 36 and 49 pound cow in these days. What we want is to improve our 

 breed of cows that we may have a number of milkers that will give us 

 20 quarts a day instead of having one or two that will give more. We 

 do not want to raise a stock of corn 20 feet high, but such corn from 

 which you can raise 100 bushels to the acre; not one stalk of grass 

 above the rest, but the whole crop of a good quality and 4 tons to 

 the acre. 



In handling our herd, we keep the cows in the dairy barn and only 

 exercise them by leading them out with a halter. A well-fed animal 

 will not work, as a rich man will not walk much. You must work 

 according to the laws of Nature and use your good judgment. The 

 intelligent brain of man, choosing the animal, has improved over the 

 native animal of the i)lain and forest. As man comes into knowl- 

 edge of the laws of his Maker he improves his powers of mind and 

 is enabled to add to his crop and to his herd. We know that these 

 laws have been laid down for us and we have tried to conform to 

 them. Instead of making an animal more wild we have made her 

 more domestic. We are, however, obliged to know the secrets so 

 that we do not damage her health and retard her product. Every 

 animal in its natural state is in the open air and when you bring her 

 within the walls of a building you have to watch her that you do 

 not weaken powers contributory to the purpose for which she was 

 intended. In order to do this we have watched the temperature of 

 a dairy barn carefully. It is singular how the wind affects animals. 

 An east wind will always take cattle off their milk. You will find 

 that the milk flow will be lessened, no matter how you feed or water 

 or care for the cows. The cold northwest wind seems to be bracing 

 to them. The south and west winds have no effect. You should 

 be careful not to allow any draught from an east v.'ind pome over 

 the cattle. Why this is so it is difficult to say. You should be very 

 particular about the ventilation of a dairy barn. It is ten times 

 better to keep a thermometer in the barn than to expose the herd 



