No. 5. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



197 



Kind of Feed 



Hominy feed, 



Corn meal, 



Gluten meal, 



Cottonseed meal, .. 



Corn and oats 



Wheat feed (brau), 

 Middlings (wtieat), 



Ground oats, 



Boston wheat feed, 

 Linseed meal, 



?16 00 



18 00 ; 



16 00 ■ 

 23 GO 

 21 00 



16 00 

 20 00 

 23 00 



17 00 

 28 00 



1913 



?31 00 



34 00 

 32 00 



36 00 



35 00 

 30 00 

 3» 00 

 35 00 

 29 00 



37 00 



The increase in milk, according to Borden's price has in the same 

 length of time increased 39 per cent. To be exact the price is here- 

 with given: 



Borden's Flat Price for Milk 



January, . 

 February, 

 Maroh, ... 



April 



May 



June 



July 



August, . . 



September, 



October, 



November, 



December, 



1913 



?1 75 

 1 65 

 1 60 

 1 40 

 1 15 

 1 00 

 1 25 

 1 35 

 1 50 



1 90 



2 00 

 2 OO 



It is clear then that cows which might have been profitable fifteen 

 years ago may now be kept at a loss. 



There is no other vital factor connected with the production of 

 milk except that of profit. There is a very prevalent opinion held 

 by too many farmers that the fertility and np-keep of a farm re- 

 quires a certain number of cows. This belief is so generally pre- 

 valent that one of our great agricultural leaders recently made the 

 statement that in a large percentage of our dairies, milk was a by- 

 product. This theory is exploded. Every person working with the 

 soil realizes the value of manure as a fertilizer but it is not an es- 

 sential. Cover crops and commercial fertilizers may take its place. 

 In fact on many of the farms which have produced records in crop 

 production, no cows were kept or manure purchased. The fertility 

 was maintained by the liberal use of cover crops and commercial fer- 

 tilizer, and if our dairies are to be put on a fairly profitable basis, 

 we must keep in mind just one thing, namely, the profit in the pro- 

 duction of a quart of milk. The State Experiment Station at Geneva, 

 N. Y., has for some years kept very careful records showing the cost 

 of the production of milk. A herd at that station is made up of 

 Jerseys not entirely pure bred and is in no way an expensive herd, 

 one which any farmer might equal with moderate means by careful 

 selection and breeding of his cows and when he obtained this herd 

 he would be proud of it. In 1906 it was found that the best cow in 

 that herd produced one hundred pounds of milk at a food cost of 



