462 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



One of the tliree geutlemen spoke and said: ''No, Ihe^' won't, if 

 jou allow me to select the feeders, the milkers and the care-takers." 

 The challenger immediately withdrew his banter and said: "Now 

 yon are talking, and I will agree with you in all that you have said.'' 



The writer of this article simply cites this conversation and chal- 

 lenges to show that dairying does not depend on any one thing but 

 on all the details connected with the dairy business. 



The progress made in animal industry the last twenty-five years 

 has given a new impetus to dairy interests. The milk, butter, cheese 

 and cream supply for consumers in cities and towns are no longer 

 doubtful problems, but are actual facts, laying a broad foundation 

 for a i)rofitable business. And it is here that the factors of suc- 

 cess lay in the production of those articles for which there is now a 

 great market and a still greater one in the future. 



To meet the demands of the public's needs, it is plain that the 

 feed, breed and care of the dairy animal go very far towards insuring 

 the success of the undertaking for the producer. It is an actual 

 practice that the author of this paper is willing to record for the 

 benefit of his readers, and is persuaded by years of experience and 

 actual results, that the success and failure of the dairy business de- 

 pends entirely upon feed, breed and care. 



It is true there is a business side to the marketing of the product, 

 but it is almost a truism that good goods always find a market or 

 make one. The writer at this time has inquiries and offers for his 

 milk production, because of the known uniform quality of the milk. 

 The one offer is from a restaurant in Philadelphia that pay |3,500 

 a year rent. The other is a large retailer of milk in the same city. 



The writer is aware of the reply that the farmer in general is 

 ready to make to such statements, that his milk is just as good as 

 anybody's and that he has been a farmer all his life and his father 

 before him. But he could say the same thing of his mother as a 

 butter maker, that her mother made butter before her. But if either 

 were to compare the butter made fifty years ago with the butter to- 

 day, there would be a great sacrifice of points as compared with the 

 standard to-day. 



What is ti'ue in llie jjrogress of butter-nmking is equally true in 

 the production of milk. Ilence the subject resolves itself again into 

 feed, breed and care. The writer would not emphasize these three 

 requisites so much if they had not been the potent factors in his own 

 actual experience, and knows personally whereof he speaks. 



It is not accidental but intentional that feed stands first as the 

 prerequisite for successful dairying. Any cow of any breed, or no 

 breed, iutelligeiitly fed, -will do better than a good cow poorly fed. 

 The common cow. np she is familiarly called, will do much better 

 when she is fed on such foods as she can most easily digest and 

 convert into milk. 



