902 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



This barn we rebuilt last season with the idea of the health and comfort 

 of the cows. We put ma cement floor and sealed with shiplap the sides 

 and overhead. Put in eight large windows an air shaft — took 2x12 for 

 studds 4 feet apart and continued the 2x12 rafters to the ridge. Papered 

 and sealed over the paper with boards, and there joined in a cupola 4 feet 

 high. The air shaft is open at the bottom on the inside 1x4 feet, then 

 on the outside of the barn a slot 3x12 inches is cut just above the sill 

 every 6 feet to let the air in from outside. Corresponding with these 

 slots on the inside are a like number of the same sized slots close to the 

 celling, to admit the outer air. This is the King system of ventilatloi . 

 Each cow has a separate stall floored with plank, facing the ventilators 

 and is fastened by a rope behind. I have not been in the barn this win- 

 ter, but Mr. Cox, my partner, tells me that after being closed all night 

 with more than twenty cows that there is no odor, so thorough is the 

 ventilation. 



"Cleanliness is an object from start to finish. The machine milker is 

 almost here, and with that no dirt or offensive bacteria can get into the 

 closed receptacle. When one person can, by tending two machines, milk 

 30 cows in an hour dairying will be much easier than it is at present. 

 Here is a summary of the butter product of our cows during 1905: 



"Fifteen cows, 4,700 pounds butter; average price, 21 cents; money 

 received, $858.00; pounds per cow, 272; money per cow, $57.20. 



"The average cow of this state yields 150 pounds, in Pennsylvania 

 the average is 140 pounds, while ex-Governor Hoard's dairy yielded him 

 350 pounds per cow, and there is an individual Wisconsin Guernsey 

 Yeska-Sunbeam on record that recently produced over 1,000 pounds of 

 butter in one year. 



"What do we learn from these figures?" 



Mr. Barnhart was tendered a vote of thanks for his paper. 

 In the discussion the following suggestions were brought out: 

 To keep the cow from shrinking you must feed from first signs of 

 shrinkage. Do not feed to the extent of harming the cow. There is no 

 reason why a general purpose cow would not increase the same as the 

 Guernsey. The idea for the farmer to grasp is to make more use of the 

 cow than you have. To raise fourteen calves would require milk equal 

 to the milk of one cow for one vear. 



THE LIFE LIMIT OF SEEDS. 



FROM breeders' GAZETTE. 



How long does a seed remain alive? 



"Well,"' said a well-known seedsman to whom the question was put, 

 "it all depends upon the seed. I have known melon seeds to germinate 

 after 30 years, while parsnip seeds are practically dead at the end of 

 one year." 



The question of the length of time which elapses before a seed loses 

 its power to germinate and reproduce its species is receiving considera- 

 ble attention from modern gardeners who understand their business 



