Verimont Dairymen's Association'. 113 



ers of Vermont, let us elevate ourselves to our calling. This is 

 a day of specialties. We have them in all of the professions ; we 

 find them in every vocation ; men that knoAV how to do one thing 

 well. These are the men that make a success of their business. 

 Some are inclined to think that to be a specialist, means to be 

 narrow minded — to know one thing, and that only. If I am not 

 mistaken a true specialist is a man of broad mind, who keeps in 

 touch with all important events that are taking place, but more 

 especially with those that bear on his business. 



The practical farmer of to-day must be a specialist. He must 

 take some particular branch of farming and p7tsh it for all that 

 il is worth, not neglecting any other branch that will work along 

 with his specialty. Whatever we do let us do our best. If our 

 specialty is horses let us keep the best ; if sheep, we must not be 

 satisfied until we have the finest in the world — and we have 

 them over in Addison county, both horses and sheep, that lead 

 the world in some particular breeds ; but perhaps the specialty 

 most adapted to Vermont farmers is dairying. 



The saying goes that "there is always room at the top for 

 the best man" but let me say right here that there is room at 

 the top for every dairyman in Vermont if he wishes to get there. 

 Let us get to the top and stay there. A great many young m,en 

 start life in debt and the great question with them is, "Will dairy- 

 ing support their families and give them some of the comforts of 

 life and pav their debt?" I can answer from experience that it 

 will. A few points in this specialty need particular emphasis : 



1st. We must have the cow. Success or failure centers in 

 her. T am not particular what breed she is, if she is a good 

 one, but I think that the nearer we can get to a pure bred animal 

 the better we shall be satisfied. The practical dairyman must 

 not keep a cow that does not yield a profit ; if he does there is 

 less chance of that debt being paid. It does not cost much more 

 to keep a cow that yields $25.00 profit than it does to keep one 

 that runs us in debt $25.00, and remember that it is just as 

 much work to take care of the poor one as it is the good one. 



Dispose of the poor one at once. I think that we 

 should not keep a cow until she is too old for profit ; there is al- 

 ways a market for good cows at a fair price and the practical 

 man should have his dairy so arranged that he can sell a few 

 good cows every year, that is, if he sells five cows, he should 

 have five good heifers to take their place. 



We should have good quarters for our cows : Warm, light, 

 well ventilated and convenient. The practical man will have his 

 stables arranged so that he can do his work with the least outlay 

 of labor. 



