120 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



said that they can. I should like to have the speaker ex- 

 plain that. 



Professor Cooke. One of the best explanations of that 

 occurred about two years ago. A large dealer in Boston 

 was handling a great deal of butter, and he had made up his 

 mind very strongly that whenever ensilage was fed to cows 

 the quality of the butter was injured, and he was also very 

 sure that he could tell when the ensilage was being fed. 

 One of the best butter makers who sold his product to him 

 was a person who is now a member of the Vermont Board of 

 Agriculture. He was in Boston one day, and they got to 

 talking on this subject, and the butter buyer said : " Now, I 

 want you to remember not to feed any ensilage. Don't j^ou 

 be carried away by this ensilage craze. Your butter is now 

 about as near perfect as it can be, and I don't want you to 

 spoil it by feeding ensilage." Now, that man had had a silo 

 for several years, and the butter that the butter buyer was 

 talking about was made on a very heavy feed of ensilage. I 

 think when you point the moral of that you will get the 

 answer to your question. 



Mr. HiCKOX. This story was told me as a fact. A gentle- 

 man near the city of New York was making fancy butter ; 

 his son was on a farm, and sent his butter to the same 

 market. Word came to the young man that his butter was 

 not up to standard in quality, and he must stop feeding 

 ensilage. The fact was, that the young man had not begun 

 to feed ensilage. He opened his silo immediately, and went 

 to feedino; ensilao;e, and when he orot w^ord from the market 

 again the butter was all right. So much for ensila<re, so 

 much for Indian meal, in the cow's rations. Now, tell me, 

 if the cow's ration is balanced in the different proportions 

 which you speak of here, is not that the secret of the whole 

 thing in regard to the quality and quantity of the milk ? 



Professor Cooke. If jonr cow is a good cow, and you 

 give her a fair chance, she will do well by you ; but if you 

 do not give her enough food, or give her a badly balanced 

 ration, she cannot give you a good product. 



Mr. GoDDAED. In the town where I live we have a man 

 who has made fancy butter and sent it to Boston for some 

 years, and received a fancy price for it. The party to whom 



