No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 259 



is its invisible cause or source? Is it in a particular temperament — 

 the nervous temperament? There is no proof of this. Indeed, ani- 

 mals of the nervous temperament not unfrequently lack this vital 

 force. Of one thing there seems to be an assurance. Incestious 

 breeding tends to a reduction of its strength. The Holland breeders 

 have never practiced such breeding. It may be weakened by breed- 

 ing from immature bulls or from cows worn out by age or disease. 

 The Hollanders never breed from such cows and rarely from such 

 bulls. In proof that this breed has maintained a high standard of 

 vital force, we point to its use in almost every climate, including 

 that of Northern Russia, nearly up to the Arctic Circle. Here in 

 America it is as hardy as our native cattle. Its calves are raised 

 without difficulty. Taken from their dams at three days old and rea- 

 sonably fed on skim milk and a little oil meal, they grow like weeds. 

 Given plenty of food, no matter if much of it is roughage, they will 

 drop their calves at two years old and henceforward are profitable 

 to their owners. Allow me to quote from an address of Professor 

 Carlyle, of Wisconsin Agricultural College. 



"A farmer in Illinois, operating an extensive dairy of over 200 

 cows, is delivering milk in Chicago on the recommendations of the 

 physicians and surgeons there. He receives twelve cents a quart 

 for his milk wholesale. * * * On visiting his farm he gave me 

 an idea which I have never heard presented before and which I am 

 confident is going to be elaborated, especially for the milk supply 

 of cities. * * * The Physicians' and Surgeons' Association of 

 Chicago frequently visit him on his farm, and they have asked him 

 if he can give any reason why his milk has more vitalizing power 

 than any other milk they can get. The gentleman remarked that he 

 had never thought of such a thing, that he had always considered 

 one milk as good as another, provided it had the same percentage of 

 butterfat and milk solids. They remarked that if they had a patient 

 that was very much run down and weak, and they gave him of the 

 milk from his herd, they found it had more life-giving, vitalizing 

 power than any other milk they could get, even though it was no 

 richer in its chemical properties. The point I wish to make here is 

 that there is such a thing as vitality in milk, and that it is of equal, 

 if not greater importance than its chemical composition, especially 

 for the milk supply of cities. And there can be no question but 

 that the vitality of milk is closely associated with the vitality of 

 the animal producing it. Strong, vigorous cows, such as the Hol- 

 steins and milking Shorthorns, and some few families of the Jer- 

 sey and Guernsey breeds, are animals that are bound to be required 

 for this purpose. The physicians recognize the importance of a 

 strong vital temperament in the human mother, and I do not see 

 why it does not apply with equal force to the cows." 



