302 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



manufacturers' side, so I found myself minus a speech. However. I 

 can not refrain from making a few remarks on tlie producers' side of 

 the question, as I believe there are greater losses on the part of the 

 producer than in any other place in connection with the dairy business. 



In the Middle West we have four states that are particularly noted 

 for dairying. Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. Iowa, Minnesota 

 and Illinois are especially adapted for butter-making, Iowa being the 

 banner State, as more butter is made here than in any other State in 

 the Union. This has the effect of making us rather boastful, in fact 

 it is a common thing to hear some of our public men eulogize this State 

 so much that we sometimes overlook what they are doing in other states. 



It is true that we have many things to boast of, but when we ap- 

 proach the question of milk production we find that we have not kej t 

 abreast of the times as compared with the advancements made along 

 other lines of agricultural pursuits. 



In the year 1830 it required seventeen and three quarter cents worth 

 of labor to produce one bushel of wheat. In 1896 it required but threo 

 ;aid a half cents. In 1850 the average time required for producing a 

 bushel of corn was four and a half hours. In 1900 we find this reduced 

 to thirty-four minutes. Take up the progress that has been made ia 

 the horse business. Not many years ago a three-minute horse %vas con- 

 sidered quite a novelty; today a three-minute horse ranks nothing better 

 tiian If good driver. When we speak of a fast horse novr. we look for 

 a two-minute horse. 



See the great progress that has been made in the beef business. 

 good sires selling way up in the thousands. What do we find ia the 

 dairy business?— the average of our State one hundred and forty pounds 

 of- butter per cow, in this enlightened age. We certainly have nothing 

 to boast of in such a record as this. It is true we have some herds in 

 the State that are averaging over three hundred pounds per cow. There 

 is no reason why every dairyman in the State should not strive for a 

 herd of this kind. When we get such herds we will hear no complaints 

 that dairying does not pay. 



The rapid increase in the price of lanJ during the last five or six 

 years makes it necessary that farmers must farm more intelligently than 

 they have ever done before. Economic problems must be studied more 

 carefully if they expect to get adequate returns from the money investei. 

 We have a country as well adapted for dairying as any in the world. 

 Our soil is rich, our climatic conditions are good, and we have an 

 abundance of grass and pure water. In connection with this we hav3 

 a progressive, intelligent people. Nevertheless, we must admit that wo 

 are producing milk just about as expensively as we did twenty years 

 ago. 



How many silos have we in the State? I could possibly count them 

 all on my two hands. It is estimated l)y the Wallaces' Farmer that 

 tone acre of the average Iowa corn mill make fifteen tons of ensilage, 

 •and two tons of ensilage are equal to a ton of the best clover hay. Forty 

 pounds of ensilage will keep a cow a day and a ton will keep her fifty 

 days, or an acre of Iowa corn would make enough ensilage to keep a 



