FAKMEKS' INSTITUTES. 279 



nisli the material fi'oin Avhich uiillioiis of huiiiau beinirs are clothed durino- a 

 considerable portion of the year. All nations outside the torrid zone are 

 dependent upon them. Their flesh also furnishes a vast multitude with whole- 

 some food, and the shepherd's vocation is a happy one. 



I notice that the Executive Board of the State Agricultural Society, at its 

 meeting recently held at Jackson, made provision for a thorough-bred class of 

 sheep to be shown at our State fairs. This movement, in connection with the 

 agitated question of establishing a merino sheep breeding register, will have a 

 tendency to induce breeders to look well to the origin of their breeding stock. 



It is a question with me whether or not the sheep-breeders and wool-growers 

 of Michigan are doing as much as they might to carry forward the w^ork of 

 this branch of our united industries. Other States around us have their wool- 

 growers' and sheep-breeders' associations, and claim to profit by them. Could 

 not the fanners of our State, if properly organized, do as well? I w^ould be 

 happy at any time to cooperate Avitli my fellow farmers in any feasible plan 

 that might be introduced for the advancement of correct principles in sheep 

 breeding and wool-growing in our great and prosperous State. 



AFTERXOON SESSION, 



This session opened with an address on "Wheat Culture," by Prof. C. L. 

 Ingersoll. See lectures and addresses following these reports of institutes. 



Next a paper by Mr. Fred Curtis, of Wheatland, on '^ Improved Breeds of 

 Cattle." Manuscript not furnished. 



Mr. C. E. Coryell, of Allen, read the following paper on 



''the i;est cow for the farmer." 



In a brief essay of a few minutes I can only notice some of the fixed and 

 leading characteristics of the jirominent dairy thoroughbreds of the country. 

 To these the farmer of this country must look to improve the milking capacity 

 of his native stock by raising grades. 



Before proceeding to notice the different breeds of dairy cattle we will notice 

 the composition of milk : 



Milk of average good quality contains, — water, 87.40; butter, 3.43; casein, 

 3.12; milk sugar, 5.12; mineral water, .93, in 100 parts. Milk varies in its 

 composition in different cows, at different seasons, or when fed upon different 

 kinds of food, the greatest variation either of its solid constituents being but- 

 ter. Newly-drawn milk, when viewed under a microscope with a magnifying 

 power of 300 diameter or more, exhibits minute globular or egg-shaped atoms 

 of unequal size floating mechanically in the watery mass, whitening every part 

 with their presence, and varying from 1-1500 to 1-4000 of an inch in diameter. 

 These are the butter globules. 



The butter globules are enclosed in pellicles or sacks, and are composed of 

 white and yellow fats and several kinds of volatile oils, all mingled together. 

 The fatty matter which enters into the composition of these butter globules 

 consists of four varieties. The hardest is stearine, whicli when separated is a 

 hard, white, flaky-appearing fat. The second in consistency is palmatine, and 



