182 STATE BOARD OF AGRICI'LTURE. 



have questioned meinl)ers of our board of supervisors, and they inform me that 

 tiiere are at least 'J,OUU cows in our county that, by the comparison made, and 

 •which is essentially true, have been milked at a loss of full S15 per cow, giving 

 a total of $135,000 that Eaton county has lost the past season, by putting alow 

 grade of dairy products upon the market. 



Still, in the face of this spend-thrift, ruinous policy, — a policy that, for the 

 year 1878, cost us not less tlian 6135,000, we groan about taxes, hard times and 

 bad management upon the part of our public officers I 



This careless, spendthrift policy means something; ^135,000, which was 

 ■within our reach and which we did not secure, and which amount has been lost 

 year after year in the past, means something ! Bankruptcy and a change of 

 the ownership of the soil is the end foreshadowed, and if we are anxious to 

 avoid the catastrophe, wc will look earnestly, not only as individuals but as a 

 people, for a reliable remedy, and then apply it with vigor. 



I have heard it remarked by butter buyers in different places, not only in but 

 out of our county, that Michigan farm ladies do not know how to make good 

 butter (hence only .1.0 cents for Michigan butter), while the ladies of other lo- 

 calities bring into the family bank from 30 to 25 cents per pound. Now, I pro- 

 pose to defend our ladies against the imputation that they are the cause of the 

 loss, to the farmers of Eaton county alone, of not less than $135,000 per an- 

 num. 



I will state, however, in advance, that I shall present an array of facts that 

 will hit my fellow lords of the soil, and in their efforts to cover up their guilt, 

 it may be possible that some will undertake to tell their too confiding ladies that 

 it was all owing to a combination of rascally merchants who are arrayed against 

 the poor farmers, in an effort to ruin them by taking from Eaton county dairy 

 products alone, $135,000 per annum. 



To commence my defense then, I shall attack the farmers of Eaton county 

 first, by telling them that not more than one-half of the cows milked in Eaton 

 county are physically fit for dairy purposes. 



AVe all know that it is an easy matter to raise a cow from a calf. It is just 

 as easy to purchase cows if wc have the money ; and since no one ever heard 

 of a dishonest farmer, — or a farmer that had a poor cow to sell, it follows of 

 course, that it is no very difficult matter to purchase good cows. But this is 

 a wrong conclusion. It is a difficult matter to select calves that will grow into good 

 cows; and it is generally equally difficult to select good milkers when purchas- 

 ing cows, unless we have taken some pains to instruct ourselves in the art of de- 

 tecting readily, the good and bad qualities of the animals we purchase or raise. 



I will state in as few words as possible, what I know of the marks that indi- 

 cate good milkers. I learned them from Prof. Arnold, T. D. Curtis and others 

 of known celebrity as writers upon dairy topics, and I repeat them, because I 

 have learned by observation that they are worth something to every farmer in 

 Michigan who is not already ac(|uainted with them. 



In the first place, a general feminine appearance is necessary, which is as 

 easily discovered in a cow, or calf, as coarse muscular power in the ox. Per- 

 sons who are unable to draw a correct line between the coarse masculine, and 

 the well developed feminine appearance of a cow, had better hire their neigh- 

 bor to make their selections for them. 



No one will dispute the fact that a large flow of milk requires an animal 

 capable of consuming a large amount of food; it follows that in order to di- 

 gest a large amount of food, a cow must possess large healthy digestive organs. 



