MICHIGAN STATE GRANGE. 347 



undesirable physical conditions in the soil which cannot be overcome 

 through the use of artificial fertilizers alone. In feeding beef cattle, 

 sheep and swine, about the same percentage of the food consumed is 

 voided in the form of liquid and solid excrement as in the case of dairy 

 cattle, but when the meat producing animals are marketed, large quan- 

 tities of plant food leave the farm. The fat steer or heifer goes to 

 market at from twenty-four to thirty months of age, while a good dairy 

 cow remains for a period of ten years, or even more. In the bone, 

 muscle, tissue, etc., of the steer, large amounts of phosphoric acid, 

 nitrogen and potash, are carried away, while a pound of butter consists 

 largely of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, of which there is such an 

 abundant supply that the plant is seldom, if ever, in need of them. 



The method chosen to dispose of dairy products will materially in- 

 fluence the amount of fertilizing material left behind. Considering the 

 matter from this standpoint, that method of procedure by which the 

 skim milk is retained for feeding purposes, is the best. It can then be 

 used in rearing both calves and pigs, when a large part will go back 

 to the farm as fertilizer. Less fertilizing material is removed from 

 the farm when butter is manufactured; more material is removed by 

 the cheesemaker, and whey, a less valuable j)roduct than skim milk, is 

 sold outright. That method of dairying which leaves the skim milk on 

 the farm for feeding, cannot be too highly commended. 



In support of the arguments produced, we quote from the annual re- 

 port of the Wisconsin State Dairyman's Association for the year 1902. 

 The synopsis hereafter given is from an address, entitled "What Dairy- 

 ing has done for Trempealeau County," by A. A. Arnold. This story, 

 unquestionably authentic in every respect, reads like a fairy tale; it 

 should be scattered far and wide. Lands were first settled in Trempea- 

 leau county in 1852, the early settlers being mostly American born 

 with a few Scotch, English and Irish. The best lands were settled by 

 these people. From 1860 to 1868 large numbers of Polish, German and 

 Norwegian emigrants settled in this county. Trempealeau county is 

 possessed of a variety of soils. "Streaks of sand on one side or the other 

 of all large streams, deep rich valleys of loarn and rich clay soil to the 

 tops of the bluffs." From the earliest settlement, up to 1881, little atten- 

 tion was given to dairying or stock raising. The land was persistently 

 cropped till it failed to produce. After fifteen or twenty years of grain 

 farming, these farmers found themselves worth little more than when 

 they began, w'ith mortgages on four-fifths of the farms in the county; 

 at least half of the mortgages were foreclosed or deeded to the mort- 

 gagee. Trempealeau county was naturally rich and suited to the pro- 

 duction of corn, oats and pasture. These crops, combined with good cli- 

 matic conditions, made it an ideal dairy country. Shortly after 1881, 

 the farmers began to erect cooperative creameries and make butter. 

 As a result, we find that in 1901 seven-tenths of the Trempealeau county 

 farmers were out of debt. Lands, that in 1881 were worth but from 

 12.00 to 120.00 per acre, are now worth from ^10.00 to $70.00. Good 

 farm houses and commodious barns predominate and the shack and 

 hovel are the exception. Stock raising has increased the productive- 

 ness of these holdings. Twenty years ago there was not a bank in 



