CHAPTER XXVI. 



SUMMER FOOD FOR DAIRY COWS. 



EVERY owner, or keeper of a cow for milk purposes, wants a 

 good one. At least, that is what they inquire for, when purchas- 

 ing her for either family or dairy use one yielding a large quan- 

 tity of rich milk, good in creamy quality. The possession of 

 such a cow accomplished, the owner has a fair start, so far as the 

 capital invested in the creature herself is concerned. But there 

 is another item quite as important connected with the product 

 to be obtained from her; and that is, her food. 



Let the milk-producing faculties of the cow be ever so good, 

 those faculties will fail if the requisite food, both in quality, and 

 quantity, be withheld from her. The manufacturer or machinist 

 may have the best propelling power in the world with which to 

 work his machinery, but if he have a scant supply of water with 

 which to drive his wheel, or is short of fuel to make the required 

 amount of steam for his engine, his power in both cases fails, 

 and a portion of his capital expended in the construction of his 

 machinery is lost. It is so with the cow. She may be so ana- 

 tomically and physiologically constituted, as to yield the greatest 

 possible production of milk, of which her nature is capable, 

 but to obtain that production an abundance of the proper food 

 must be given. 



The cow is simply a piece of animal machinery, composed of 

 stomach, lungs, viscera, milk secretions and udder, so far as her 

 dairv quality is concerned, and that machinery will not work to 



