58 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 



selecting and testing seed-corn and of measuring the milk product 

 of the dairy herds. 



The school possesses two Babcock testers, each of four bot- 

 tles capacity. One is without a shell and the other is of the 

 covered type but runs very hard. Milk was first studied the 

 second winter the course was given. Different classes have 

 tested the milk of no less than 200 cows, distributed probably 

 among 40 or 50 herds. The farmers finally brought in more 

 samples of milk than the class had time to handle, especially 

 after the class had published a report on work done with a 

 cow belonging to one of the patrons. He weighed the milk 

 one day, estimated the total product as closely as possible to 

 fit the approximate period of lactation, and had the class test 

 samples of the milk. The result was later published in the 

 local press. Then a ten-year-old son of the Methodist minister 

 bought a cow for $45. This animal was used as a miniature 

 experiment station for the class during the year. The class 

 figured out the rations to be fed. The boy kept all the data 

 for the use of the class, such as rent of pasture and stable, 

 cost of feed and labor, and receipts from the sale of milk. The 

 milking period was estimated at 300 days. The milk was weighed 

 and tested. The amount of butter product was calculated at 

 the rate of seven-eighth of a pound of butter-fat to a pound 

 of butter. The cost of the feed for the year was calculated, 

 and the profit was then computed from this data. Later several 

 farmers bought testers. The brown Swiss is the favorite dairy 

 breed in this section. Most of the farmers now breed their 

 own dairy cattle. Breeds have not been studied as such by 

 the class nor have attempts been made at judging stock, although 

 the various parts of the animal carcass have been studied from 

 charts. 



The use of a piece of land at the edge of town was secured 

 for the class the first year, so that every member had a plat, 

 but the results were interfered with by outsiders disturbing the 

 beds. Nevertheless the children brought in quite complete re- 

 ports the following autumn. Many of those living in the country 

 who had to come some distance took better care of their plats 

 than did others living near by. Since then the village children 



