No. 7. DEPARTMENT OE' AGRICULTURE. 641 



iiirmiiig they are going up again to yields of 30 or 40 bushels, and 

 to largely increased cash values for the land. 



I would like to show you the value of the co-operative cow testing 

 associations as developed in Denmark. The average increase in 

 milk production after five years' trial was nearly 1,000 pounds per 

 cow per year. The average increase in butter was 43 pounds per 

 cow per year. I would like to discuss this with you at some length, 

 but I will merely suggest that you join in the plan for co-operative 

 testing as outlined by your President. We will help you from 

 Washington all we can. I will not go into this argument with you, 

 as I understand t]iat Mr. Van Alstyne has already given an excellent 

 talk on this subject; I will simply add an illustration: A little herd 

 of 12 dairy cows up in New Hampshire produced in the course of 

 a 3'ear a net profit of |19.j.80 — a small amount — but the profit from 

 the bes't cow Avas v»dthin 30 cents -of the combined profit of the first 

 six cows in the herd. Four of these cows barely paid expenses. 

 The owner of this herd might sell his six poor cows and lose no more 

 profit than if he onh' sold his best one. So, unless you keep a 

 record of each cow's production, you do not know where your profit 

 comes from or just what you are doing when you buy or sell cows. 



We, who know, are under obligations to do better things our- 

 selves, and to raise the average of the farms around us. It is so 

 pitifully low. In an average neighborhood into which one of our 

 men went, he found that the average production of butter of the 

 dairy herds supplying milk to the creamery was about 140 pounds 

 per cow per year. After he went there and worked with them, the 

 herd on v>'hich he was employed averaged 280 pounds of butter per 

 year per cow, just twice the previous average of the neighboring 

 herds. You will very likely find similar cases around your own 

 home. Appreciate your oppportunities to raise the standard in your 

 community. 



It is encouraging to know that a more scientific and reasonable 

 understanding of the advantages of dairying is coming to both men 

 and women. About a year ago I had the pleasure of talking with 

 a woman who is most enthusiastically interested in supplying cer- 

 tified milk to the people of Chicago, having a farm a few miles up 

 the lake, where she maintains sanitary conditions, and sets a fine 

 example to many of the men engaged in supplying milk to the city. 

 I also learn that Philadelphia is receiving a high quality of certified 

 milk, a sample of which will be shown here tomorrow, produced by 

 a successful woman dairy farmer, personally interested in the oc- 

 cupation which she adorns. 



Let us go home from this Convention holding our heads high as 

 successful dairy farmers, and while we congratulate ourselves on 

 the advantages we have, let us urge our boys to go to the Agricul- 

 tural Colleges and learn how to do things scientifically, and when 

 they return with thorough preparation, let us join with them in 

 practical application of the best methods to the advancement of 

 our common interests. 



41—7—1906. 



