EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART IV 277 



hours, heat an electric curling iron once a day for a month. Electricity 

 is coming-, more and more, to be the handy choreman around the farm 

 anC the college proved to the thousands who studied the exhibit that it 

 is a cheap as well as an efficient worker. With generating machines 

 now within the cost of the average farmer and storage batteries per- 

 fected to a high degree, electricity is coming to be more and more pop- 

 ular on the farm. No exhibit at the college building was more striking 

 or conclusive than this one. 



The tented exhibit of the Cooperative Cow-Testing- Association at- 

 tracted the usual attention and proved in conclusive manner that it pays 

 to cull out the unprofitable "boarders" and systematically to determine 

 which cows are producing the most milk and butter fat. Nine cows were 

 exhibited by m.embers of the West Branch Cow-Testing Association, their 

 records for the year ending June 30, 1917, being as follows: Josie, a 

 grade Holstein, 13,463.2 pounds of milk; 36S.7 pounds of butter fat; value 

 of product, $140.15; cost of feed, $68.03; net profit, $82.12. Imp. Daisy II 

 of La Marie, 6,166.6 pounds of milk; 374.2 pounds of butter fat; value of 

 product, $141.66; cost of feed, $51.09; net profit, $90.57. Kicker, a grade 

 Short-horn, 7,436 pounds of milk; 313.5 pounds of butter' fat; value of 

 product, $119.54; cost of feed, $46.44; net profit, $73.10. Clumsy, a grade 

 Short-horn, 5,634 pounds of milk; 265.8 pounds of butter fat; value of 

 product, $92.19; cost of feed, $43.99; net profit, $48.20. Goshen Cardone, a 

 pure-bred Holstein, 7,811.2 pounds of milk; 322.7 pounds of butter fat; 

 value of product, $123.57; cost of feed, $60.77; net profit, $62.80. Laurie, 

 a grade Short-horn, 2,956 pounds of milk; 110 pounds of butter fat; value 

 of product, $41.62; cost of feed, $34.55; net profit, $7.07. Poney, a grade 

 Holstein, 1,890 pounds of milk; 87.1 pounds of butter fat; value of prod- 

 uct, $30.95; cost of feed, $31.52; net loss for the year, 57 cents. With 

 these animals was shown Lily, a grade Guernsey, which in seven months 

 produced 3,762.2 pounds of milk; 189.4 pounds of butter fat, value of 

 product, $80.15; cost of feed, $34.17; net profit, $43.98. When one cow 

 produces a profit of $43.98 in seven months and the other a loss of 57 

 cents in twelve months, while their feed cost is practically the same, the 

 value of weighing the product and eliminating the unprofitable cows is 

 most conclusively shown. There are now thirty-one cow testing associa- 

 tions in Iowa and the movement is gaining favor every day. This year's 

 exhibit was most conclusive and will go a long ways toward further 

 popularizing the campaign. Practical advice on how to organize an as- 

 sociation is given herewith: "Get in touch with your county agent and 

 your buttermaker, then make a list of all the farmers in your com- 

 munity who are milking seven or more cows and who might be interested 

 in such an organization. Send this list to the agricultural extension de- 

 partment, Ames, Iowa, with the address of each man, and bulletins deal- 

 ing- with the cow-testing association and dairying will be sent to each 

 address. Talk the proposition over with your neighbor. Call a meet- 

 ing, advertise it well and invite every man who milks to come. Write 

 the agricultural extension department, Ames, Iowa, and they will send 

 you a speaker to explain the purpose, plans and benefits to be derived 

 from such an association. After this meeting get all those interested 

 to sign the membership agreement. If the twenty-six are not secured at 

 the meeting it will be necessary to complete the list by making personal 

 calls. When enough members are secured another meeting is called, to 

 elect the officers and adopt the constitution and by-laws. As soon as a 

 competent supervisor is secured the association starts work." 



Splendid advice on the care and preservation of market eggs was given 

 by means of object lessons and placards at the State College Building. 

 A table was displayed showing the approximate loss in marketing eggs, 

 a loss which might easily be reduced to the vanishing point if sufficient 

 care were taken. According to this table, the average loss in marketing 



