Timely Hints for Farmers. 259 



3. The value of a cow is not to be estimated by the richness 

 of her milk. Eighteen cows tested higher than the best cow in 

 the herd, this number including the four poorest ones; and 

 Lwenty-four tested higher than the second best cow. It is pounds 

 of butter fat and not per cent that count. 



4. The comparative value of the cows in a herd is not to be 

 based upon the gross, but upon the net receipts. Compare cows 

 No. 1 and No. 27. No. 1 gave practically twice as much milk 

 of about the same richness, and is therefore, you will probably 

 say, twice as good a cow as No. 27. Is this true? L,ook at the 

 net receipts. No. 1 returned $37. 75 and No. 27, $2.95, from which 

 it is easy to calculate that instead of being twice as good a cow 

 as No. 27, No. 1 is between twelve and thirteen times as valuable. 

 Two cows, it will be observed, failed to pay expenses. How are 

 such cows as No. 30 and some of her near neighbors on the list, 

 to be weeded out of our herds, unless the individual record is 

 kept? If there is one such cow in a herd averaging $4.25 per. 

 head per month, how many are there liable to be in herds aver- 

 aging less? 



In the matter of time, this Hint is certainly timely, coming 

 as it does, just long enough before the end of the year to give 

 every dairyman time to make plans for keeping a record during 

 the coming year. 



Gordon H. True, 



Department of \nirnal Hushtindry. 



THE USE OF THE BABCOCK TEST. 

 No. 24, December 15. 



The Babcock milk test is an outgrowth of the co-operative 

 system of butter and cheese making. When the creamery and 

 cheese factory first came to take the place of the home dairy, and 

 the milk from a large number of dairies was brought to one fac- 

 tory for manufacture, it was a common practice to divide the pro- 

 ceeds on the basis of the number of pounds of milk or cream de- 

 livered by each patron, regardless of quality. Even if the milk 

 delivered had not been tampered with by skimming or by water- 



