CHAPTER XXVII. 



PUBLIC TESTS OF PURE-BRED DAIRY COWS COST OF PRODUC- 

 ING MILK AND FAT IN DAIRY HERDS AT VARIOUS EXPERI- 

 MENT STATIONS. 



I. Test at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1898. 



683. Concerning the test. The authorities in charge of the 

 World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893, in co-operation 

 with representatives of the various dairy and cattle breeders 7 asso- 

 ciations of America, planned a test of dairy breeds to occur dur- 

 ing the six months of the Exposition. The original plan embraced 

 herds of animals representing all the leading dairy breeds. Each 

 herd was to be managed by the association entering it, account 

 being taken of all feed consumed and products returned. The 

 general supervision of the cows and the manufacture of the milk 

 was in charge of a committee representing the Association of 

 American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations and 

 representatives of the breed associations participating in the test. 

 Commodious stables were constructed, silos built and filled, and 

 a large dairy building erected. The outcome was the entrance 

 of three herds of twenty-five cows each in the contest, the Jersey, 

 Guernsey and Short-horn breeds being represented. The data 

 of this contest are said to fill 900 pages of record books. l 



1 Most unfortunately the official records of this test have never been 

 published although certain summaries have been given to the public 

 through various channels. The Association of Agricultural Colleges, in 

 whose charge the records were left, has offered to deposit them with the 

 Agricultural Department at Washington, where doubtless they will be 

 available for reference in the future. For reports of the test, see numbers 

 of the Breeder's Gazette, Chicago, 1890-1893, inclusive. The most complete 

 summary appears in Jersey Bulletin, Indianapolis, Dec. 20, 1893. An- 

 other summary was published by James Cheesman, Southborough, Mass., 

 printed originally in Journal of the British Dairy Farmers' Association, 

 London, 1894- also in pamphlet form by the author. Another summary 

 was published in pamphlet form by Valancey E. Fuller, Superintendent 

 of the Jersey herd during the contest. The tables here presented are 

 from the Jersey Bulletin and the Cheesman report. 



