296 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Boston. We have allowed in our calculations a cent and a 

 half, but it does not cost that according to the figures. 



Mr. Brooks of Springfield. It costs the Springfield 

 Association a good deal more than three-quarters of a cent a 

 quart. It costs about three-quarters of a cent to send our 

 wagons into the country, bring the milk in here, and then it 

 costs us to hire men, carts and horses to distribute it, two 

 cents a quart. We sell milk at six cents a quart ; we sell 

 buttermilk at a good price sometimes ; we sell what skimmed 

 milk we can. We do not buy any milk ; we bring our 

 stockholders' milk in here, we pay our expenses and what is 

 left we divide among the producers j^ro rata. 



Question. I would like to ask Mr. Smith if he can tell 

 us how many quarts of milk his cows average per day 

 throughout the year. 



Mr. Smith. I could not. We change our cows more or 

 less. It is more profitable to change them than to keep on 

 with the same animals. We rarely run below nine quarts a 

 cow, and we are milking from that up to eleven quarts. 

 Then Ave have a certain percentage of dry ones. We think 

 it is better to sell some cows pretty cheap and replace them 

 with others, in order to keep up our yield of milk. 



Question. How many pounds of feed do you give your 

 cows per day ? 



Mr. Smith. I think I stated that in the paper. Twenty- 

 five pounds of ensilage, five pounds of wheat bran, three 

 pounds of linseed meal, one-half pound of gluten meal. 

 But you must bear in mind that all our corn goes into the 

 silo. Instead of harvesting our corn, as the gentleman spoke 

 of over there and saving it, wc prefer to let it go into the 

 silo. 



Mr. Burgess. Can you give us an estimate of about 

 what it costs to produce the milk at your farm ? 



Mr. Smith. I could not. It has been our intention 

 always to keep our bills paid as we went along, and if we 

 got out of money we knew that the business was not paying. 

 (Laughter.) 



Mr. Fitch. I will answer two of the questions. From 

 as careful calculations as can be made it is found that not far 

 from seven quarts a day, taking the average through the 



