1890.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 123 



poses, various breeds of cows, and cows coming from differ- 

 ent parts of the country, so as to get all sorts and kinds, w^e 

 find that the individual or the animal so overshadows every- 

 thing else that we cannot tell whether a particular kind of 

 food given to anything but a pure-bred Jersey cow will pro- 

 duce a change or not. So for as anything we can come at 

 to-day is concerned, it will depend upon the cow rather than 

 the feed. 



Mr. Bradley. I am surprised that the professor advo- 

 cates feeding cows only twice a day. ' That may do for 

 stock animals, but for milch cows I hardly think experience 

 would bear out his statement. We are all striving here to 

 get at facts. Now, I know that in forcing cows, as we call 

 it, to get the greatest result, they feed four or five times a 

 day, in small quantities ; and now they have carried that to 

 such an extent that they feed a cow fifty or sixty pounds a 

 day to get the largest results. AYould the professor recom- 

 mend feeding that, all at two feeds, giving a cow thirty 

 pounds at one feed ; or would he recommend dividing it up, 

 I will say, into four feeds? 



Professor Cooke. Of course in that case you would have 

 to divide up the feed ; but if you consider that the amount 

 you put into an animal must bear a certain relation to the 

 amount of product gotten out, you will find that the stuffing 

 process is not economical farming ; and of course what I was 

 talking about this morning was "the economical feeding of 

 dairy stock." 



Mr. Bradley. The question which arises in my mind is 

 this : If the principle is applicable in one case, why is it not 

 in the other ? 



Professor Cooke. Well, w^hy not apply the same thing 

 to us ? It is not so very long ago that that system of feed- 

 ing was, as I said, extended over the whole day. They 

 began at five o'clock in the morning, and kept the cow 

 eating all day long. Now, in what condition would our 

 systems be if we should adopt the same practice, — if you, 

 for instance, before you Avent out to milk, should stop and 

 take a bite, and then come in to breakfast ; stop your work 

 in the middle of the forenoon and take a lunch ; take your 

 dinner at noon, and so on through the day ; and after you 



