CATTLE THE DAIRY. 861 



sum, $70 per cow not being infrequent, while many poorly kept 

 and cared-for dairies go even below $40 per head. There can 

 be no definite sum fixed upon as a point of profit, for the condi- 

 tions under which milk is produced, the expense in production, 

 and the circumstances of its disposal can not be fixed or regu- 

 lated by commercial laws of supply and demand. 



Maintainance. The old plan was to allow five acres of 

 land for the yearly maintainance of a cow, but the value of 

 fodder-corn is being so rapidly recognized that the day is not 

 far distant when this proportionment will be ample for two cows, 

 which would double the income of the dairy, without a corre- 

 sponding increase of capital, save in an increased number of 

 cows, and the added labor that this increase would demand. 



That dairying is profitable is demonstrated by the rapidity 

 with which it is being adopted by different sections throughout 

 the Union, and that once adopted it is never abandoned as a 

 whole. As methods of manufacture are improved, and the 

 quality of the products bettered, fine butter and cheese come 

 to be regarded as indispensable articles of diet rather than lux- 

 uries, and hence are salable at any and all times and with a 

 steady demand. 



Handling of Milk. The handling of milk, as stated, is by 

 individual and co-operative systems, the last having the subdi- 

 vision of the patron method of manufacture and sale. While 

 the individual plan is far in the minority, yet it is the individual 

 dairyman who, if he rightly conducts his affairs, obtains the 

 extreme or quoted "fancy" prices, prices that he himself estab- 

 lishes and then maintains by his superior methods of excellence. 

 By his individualism the private dairyman is enabled to control 

 all his circumstances, have only the choicest cows, and make an 

 article of butter exactly in accordance with the wishes of the 

 customers he serves; while by co-operation there is a massing 

 of collected material, and final selling in the general market, 

 that has a tendency to lower quality and prices. 



Modern Invention. Modern inventive genius has been 

 so active, and that with special reference to the wants of the 

 dairyman who seeks to improve his methods, that to describe 



