248 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



the nutrition went to maintain bodily heat and if all 

 of the ration was consumed for this purpose there 

 were no carbon compounds left to produce butter 

 unless the cow drew on stored bodily fats. 



At that time all-year-round dairies had begun to 

 be approved and so the production of milk in the 

 winter months was a vital subject. " Pine boards 

 versus cornmeal " was being discussed, both from 

 a humanitarian and an economic standpoint. It 

 was then a common custom to allow the cows in 

 winter to roam in unprotected yards for the 

 greater part of the day and to go to some adjacent 

 stream for drinking water. The ice on the borders 

 of the creek and the steep incline of the bank often 

 compelled the cows to stand at an angle of thirty 

 degrees with the horizon while they drank ice-cold 

 water. I pointed out that this method of trying to 

 make ice cream direct from the cow was an uphill 

 business and had always proved a failure. I 

 recommended that the drinking water for the dairy 

 cattle not only should be brought into the stable 

 but that it should be warmed to blood temperature ; 

 for we had discovered at the College by experi- 

 mentation that a cow in full milk and in full feed 

 in winter would drink from fifty to seventy pounds 

 of hot water daily. 



