132 STATE BOAED OF AGEICULTUKE. 



rails, and need the constant presence of more patience than most of us possess, 

 especially in fl3^-time. This is aggravating to the average Imman mind, and 

 when, as often happens, it results in an overturned pail, and tlie consequent loss 

 of pounds of milk -^vhich represent prospective dollars of income, it has a jorac- 

 tice bearing which reaches not only the mind, but also the wallet. And often- 

 times "the boys" to whom the milking is entrusted have an evening party on 

 the tapis, and so milk the cows about an hour earlier at night, so as "to get 

 ready," and in the morning, long after the usual time of milking, with eyes not 

 yet half open, and in a fretful humor, they proceed to the yard to find the cows 

 with their udders swollen and painful and as impatient as tiie boys. "The 

 signs" are right for trouble. The milkers grumble like the mutterings of dis- 

 tant thunder, and upon the slightest motion of tlie cows the storm comes on, 

 and is often such a one as leaves its effects for the rest of the season. 



Most of us dread the thought of milking in winter. If cows arc imperfectly 

 stabled and poorly littered in the stalls, this is indeed a serious matter. With 

 cold feet, and filth frozen thick to the animal's skin, the task is far from a 

 pleasant one. But on the other hand, if the stable is a sufficient one and a good 

 supply of bedding supplied, tlie matter jwesents a different aspect. Dairymen 

 must remember that milking is a part of the farm work, and should be per- 

 formed m the hours allotted to labor, and not after the farm work is done. 

 Those who expect to have the milking done by hired men after a long day's 

 work in the field, will not be likely to have it well performed, nor yet with a very 

 good grace. Cross milkers make stubborn and ugly cows, while they diminish 

 the yield of the milk. I am aware that in some families this work is performed 

 by the female portion of the household. If circumstances favor it and the 

 women are "udlling, this arrangement may be entered into in the summer season 

 to the manifest advantage of the cows. But it is not practicable in the cold and 

 snow of winter, and even in summer the women have as much hard work and 

 longer days than the men upon our farms. I can ajipreciate the helpfulness of 

 those women in most of our households who, in the stress of work occasioned by 

 an approaching storm or some mishap, "will cheerfully do the milking, and thus 

 relieve those upon whom the stress has come. But I have no sympathy with 

 the man who adopts this branch of enterprise because lie can get so much more 

 work out of his "women folks." This motive is ignoble, and ho deserves to be 

 disappointed. Again, many of our households are poorly prepared to take the 

 addition to its daily labor of the manufacturing of 300 to 600 pounds of butter, 

 neither are our pantry room and our butter appliances sufficient for it. 



Third objection. Trouble of cartage of milk. This burden is usually borne 

 by four to five neighboring farmers, who either alternate in the "svork or join in 

 paying a man who makes this his business. In either case the expense is in 

 proportion to the distance from the factory, the character of the roads, and 

 other local considerations. He Avho is the most favorably situated in respect to 

 the factory vail of course deduct from his expenses a proper amount. 



Fourth. ISTegligence in care is also a serious drawback to the enterprise. 

 There is perhaps no branch of farm enterprise upon which the want of con- 

 stant care shows so quickly, and with disastrous effect, as that under considera- 

 tion. Irregularity in milking, feeding, insufficient or improper food, a scant 

 supply of water or that of an impure character, are causes which lessen very 

 materially the income of the dairyman. It will not do to enter the cheese 

 making season, depending solely upon the pasture to keep up the yield of milk, 

 but as the dry and parched days of the late summer, or the frosts of early 



