258 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



fold, the supply will increase in the same ratio. Although 

 the State does not furnish the whole of this supply, and 

 probably never will, as other States are constantly sending 

 in, still a growth in population will produce a correspond- 

 ing growth in dairy farming. More especially, however, will 

 an increase in the population affect that department of the 

 dairy known as milk-farming. Nearly all of our large farms in 

 the vicinity of large towns and cities have already been con- 

 verted into milk farms, and eventually, we believe, the principal 

 dairy farming in this "State will be that of producing milk for 

 home consumption, and consequently, will be carried on in the 

 neighborhood of chief centres of business. 



We come now -to speak of the cow herself. In this important 

 branch of farming she plays the most prominent part, and too 

 much cannot be said in her praise. Is there a more gratifying 

 sight in our daily life than the dreamy, good-natured cow, — 

 perhaps the property of some poor family who are dependent, 

 in part, upon her for their support, — after she has completed 

 her day's work and is quietly waiting for some one to draw 

 from her a bountiful supply of one of the richest and purest 

 delicacies ever furnished to man ? Is there any animal that 

 commands our respect to a higher degree or to which we should 

 feel more grateful ? We read that the ancient Egyptians used 

 to worship the bull, but if our devotions are to be paid to any 

 brute, is not the cow more deserving of this tribute ? The 

 bull was reverenced as a symbol of productiveness, yet how 

 much more should the cow be reverenced, for she not only pro- 

 duces, but rears her own young, and at the same time helps to 

 rear the young of the human family. She gives us veal, milk, 

 butter and cheese, and finally yields up her own body for beef. 

 The number of different varieties of food for our nourishment 

 and gratification, that milk enters into, as an essential part, it 

 would be difficult to determine. It has been found by care- 

 ful scientific research, that oue pound of cheese is equal, as an 

 article of diet, to two pounds of beef; and an experiment made 

 in France about ten years ago, proved that it cost no more to 

 produce three pounds of cheese, than one pound of beef. But 

 whether this is so or not, there is no doubt that the cow is the 

 most useful to man of all the domestic animals. Therefore, 

 the selecting, raising, managing and feeding of the dairy cow, 



