196 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



townships to work in harmony, and I think it will bring about bet- 

 ter roads in the State. I have advised the supervisors, where T have 

 attended their meetings, to look into this matter, and take advantage 

 of it. They can do this better than the State Highway Department, 

 or at least as well, because all it requires is goor horse sense. I have 

 advised them to organize and come down to the Legislature, when it 

 is in session, and explain to them the necessity of better roads 

 throughout the State. 



Now, gentlemen, if you know of anything relative to the highways, 

 that I can throw any light on, I will be very glad to answer any ques- 

 tion that may present itself. I know the deplorable condition in 

 which these roads are. 



COW TESTING ASSOCIATIONS 



By PROF. F. R. STEVENS 



Agriculture is not exact, either as a science or an art. The great 

 problems of breeding and fertility and the certainty of irregular 

 weather conditions takes agriculture for all times out of the class 

 of exact business and places it for all times in that class of business 

 which is speculative. The time will probably never come when we 

 can depend on producing milk at a given price or oats at so many 

 cents per bushel. The problem of marketing at a given selling price 

 is difficult, but easy compared with the establishment of a producing 

 price. Agriculture is hazardous, but that fact is not warrant for 

 the haphazard methods employed by some of us. 



My topic today is Cow Testing Associations, devised to increase 

 the profit in the sale of milk and its products. Much might be said 

 about the retail price of milk and the percentage of the price which 

 finally reaches the producer, but that is another story, I am to deal 

 with the cost of production. 



It is true in a sense that a cow is a machine, but all cows were 

 not made with the same pattern. A cow can take a given amount of 

 food and with it produce a given amount of milk. The amount de- 

 pends upon breeding, care and feeding. The amount remains fairly 

 constant each year while the animal is kept in good health and the 

 profit depends upon the cost of feed and price of milk. Under the 

 present conditions it takes a pretty good cow to pay feed, labor and 

 interest bills. Labor has increased decidedly. The common com- 

 mercial feeds which are used in our dairy have increased in the past 

 16 years 69 per cent, as follows: 



