No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 857 



essentiuls to systematic improvement. We Imve gone too far, 

 have improved too much to secure further improvement witliout 

 system. Hap-hazard work will not do. As improvement progresses, 

 each step in progress becomes more difficult. A better knowledge 

 and a closer application of principles is required at the present 

 time to secure advancement than was required generations ago. 



If we have not erred in selecting omr standard or ideal as to 

 that which i« best adapted .for the production of milk and the pro- 

 motion of the general health and vigor of the animal, we will funda- 

 mentally fail if we neglect to provide a liberal allowance of succu- 

 lent food. Not wholly because the aiaimal system uses it to the 

 best advantage, considering its feeding value wken taken alone, 

 but also to ameliorate those conditions which an artificial and 

 unnatural diet tends to produce. 



In very recent times marked changes have been made as to the 

 kind and quality of food provided for dairy stock. The inventive 

 American in his efforts to jjroduce something new has placed on 

 the market a large number of food products for the human family 

 that only a few years ago were entirely unknown. The manufac- 

 turers of these new foods have placed before the dairymen a vast 

 number- of by-products of varying usefulness for his use as stock 

 foods. Probably never before has there been consumed by the dairy 

 stock of this country so large a proportion of by-products as at the 

 present time. This means a great change, and great changes bring 

 somewhere great disturbances — what the outcome will be no one 

 can foresee. Is this tendenc}^ one of progress or one of retrogres- 

 sion? ^Vill the good that is obtained by the new order of things 

 outweigh the undesirable? TPhe effect on the vigor and constitu- 

 tioa of the animals cannot be determined by a few experiments. 

 Generations of time alone wall record the results. The gain of a 

 few dollars Avill not compensate for the loss if the usefulness of 

 our stock is impaired. The onward march of by-products is undis- 

 puted and recognized by all. If I can read the signs of the times 

 aright, the use of these foods is practically s^re to increase, but 

 L* it not the part of wisdom to feed with these artificial products a 

 liberal allowance of that f©od which most nearly approacJies the 

 ideal? 



As a basis, conservative Americans will adhere to that whick 

 lias been proven to be wholc^some and economical. It is often re- 

 marked that the success «f man}' individuals is due in a large 

 measure in their ability to use most advantageously the compara- 

 tiAH^ly cheap material at their commawd. Many thrifty farmers use 

 profitably that which the l«ss provident will permit to waste or 

 to brin§^ comparativeJy slight returns. The ease wiith which corn 

 is p-tfoduce^ Mia.be it o»e of tbe cheapest ef stock fooSs that can 

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