98 ANNUAL KEJ^ORT OF THE Off. Due. 



The iSwedish |»l;ui, whereby a large group of dairy farmers asso- 

 ciate in the employment of a skilled feeder, milk tests and keeper 

 oT records — a plan under which Swedish dairy farms have greatly 

 prospered — offers a valuable suggestion to our own dairymen. Such 

 skilled men are now being prepared by the agricultural schools 

 of the country, so that their services are available so soon as the 

 organized demand shall arise. 



THE SILO AND THE SOILING SYSTEM. 



The last decade has witnessed a marked increase in the adoption 

 of the silo and of the soiling system as part of the Pennsylvania 

 dairy farm management, and has greatly increased the possible 

 milk yield per acre of farm land, since by this system the rough food 

 and most of the grain required by a cow can be raised upon d 

 well managed half acre; while the older system, involving large 

 pasturage areas, required about three acres per cow. The silo is 

 not most profitable, it is true, where the number of cows is small. 

 Farms with small herds can, however, by the proper use of root 

 crops, secure a cheap, succulent food well suited to milch cows; 

 but where herds are large experience has shown the silo to afford 

 the cheaper food. 



LOSS BY INCOMPLETE MILKING. 



Other points of herd management likewise require closer atten- 

 tion than they are receiving. In a recent article Mr. Larsen, of the 

 Pennsylvania State College, notes the great average loss due to 

 incomplete milking, an amount equal to nearly TO gallons of milk 

 in a lactation period. 



THE MILKING MACHINE. 



Lack of a satisfactory labor supply and the consequent long 

 hours, summer and winter, that a dairyman must give to his busi- 

 ness have deterred many from entering the business and discour- 

 aged others already embarked upon the enterprise. The experi- 

 ments made with the recent types of milking machines offer hoi)e 

 of relief at these points. 



CONDITIONS OF LEASE-HOLDS UNFAVORABLE TO DAIRYMEN. 



In a recent conference of men interested in the dairy develop- 

 ment of various districts of th3 State, it was stated that the condi- 

 tions of the lease-holds are often such as to discourage tenants from 

 increasing their herds and from feeding them in the best way, since 

 no allowance is made for manure value of grnin foods purchased, 

 the building of silos is not encouraged, and the leases often con- 

 tain clauses restricting the number of animals that may be kept on 

 the farm, without respect to the fact that the carrying ca])acity of 

 the farm can be greatly increased, and without loss of ftn-tility, but 

 rather with a gain therein, by the substitution of a. well-managed 

 soiling system for the jjasture system under which the clauses in 

 (question were necessary. In view of the facts that one-fourth of 

 Pennsylvania farms are tenant-farms, and one-third of the milch 

 cows of the State are kejit on th'-se farms, the criticism mentioned 

 deserves serious consideration. Allowance could fairly be made to 

 the cash tenants nfiov the plan used in parts of England and Scot- 

 land, where the manure value of the foods purchased and fed on the 



