No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 163 



ness. You can save tlie purchase money of a hay rake by raking 

 your hay with the springtooth harrow. So you can also do your 

 dairying with your beef bred animals, and the one will be as much of 

 a financial success as the other. 



THE SHELTER. 



In our varied climate, with its wide extremes of temperature, 

 shelter for our cows is quite an item of expense; and we must even 

 do considerable thinking at times to keep our cows comfortable at 

 all seasons. If you are watchful you will soon notice that as the 

 degree of discomfort increases the profit decreases. In winter we 

 need a warm, well ventilated, well lighted stable (let us call it a 

 cow-house), and in summer a protection from the heat and flies. 

 At the same time this cow-house should be so arranged as to be 

 quite convenient for the feeder and milker. Prof. Roberts in his 

 recent excellent work "The Farmstead," illustrates quite graph- 

 ically how with scattered and inconvenient farm buildings the profits 

 of the farm may be absorbed by the labor involved in doing chores. 



In constructing a shelter for our dairy cows there are a number of 

 important considerations. We want to keep the cow^s comfortable, 

 healthy and perfectly clean. We want to get the feed to the cows 

 with the least possible work. We want to draw the milk with the 

 least possible contamination. We want to save all the manure. I 

 do not wish to consume time in amplifying these topics, but if you 

 will allow, Mr. Chairman, I wish to state that in my experience I 

 found more good health was poured into my cow-house through a 

 half dozen windows, 2x3 feet, during a sunshiny wintery day than 

 was contained in a half ton of condition powders. 



FEEDING. 



It keeps the average cow hustling on an average pasture field 

 in the midsummer sun to feed all the flies that swarm on her the 

 whole day long, without giving a thought to secreting milk. It is 

 not advisable to try to develop working oxen out of our dairy cows. 

 To have them do their best, we should bring the food to the cow, 

 instead of sending her out to hunt it up. The pasture as it often 

 is when we turn the cow in is the ideal, but very soon it becomes 

 otherwise. In yonder lot clover is abundant and in full bloom; in 

 one corner flows a sparkling brook of the best clear water, shaded 

 with a clump of trees and undergrowth. Here is an almost ideal 

 condition for our cow. She can fill herself with clover by taking 

 but a few steps, and then drink all the water she wants and use 

 the balance of her time in digesting and assimilating her food and in 

 manufacturing the product for which we keep her. 



What have we here? First, we have the best succulent feed. 



