366 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



mechanic and the genius of the inventor. The farmer is to- 

 day a manufacturer, in that the controlling conditions 

 impose artificial relations and restrictions. 



No man has yet compassed the capacity of machinery ; 

 no one realizes the power of nature to respond to an intelli- 

 gent invitation. The milk maker who cannot tell what the 

 product is per year for each individual cow is suffering from 

 a loss of surprising magnitude, even though the average of 

 the herd is above the cost limit. We make superficial 

 selections. A heavy flow when fresh is too often accepted 

 as evidence of value, and three or four months' idleness at 

 the end of the year is overlooked. In the majority of 

 herds of twelve, where individual daily records are not kept, 

 the loss caused by non-profitable cows may easily be reck- 

 oned at twenty-five per cent ; that is, the range of produc- 

 tion is so wide, that, unless closely watched, one-quarter of 

 the herd becomes a burden upon the pocket-book of the 

 owner by dragging the total production below what it Avould 

 otherwise be. No man can figure this loss or fix responsi- 

 bility upon given animals save by the daily use of the scales 

 and the careful record of each cow's production. 



Milk making claims the attention of a large per cent of 

 the farmers of New England. At two cents per quart, or 

 practically one dollar per hundred pounds, the variations in 

 the average herd are so wide as to astonish him who has not 

 applied the individual test. This price means fifty dollars 

 income from a cow producing five thousand pounds, and 

 leaves little profit. It means eighty dollars for her mate, 

 yielding eight thousand pounds yearly, — a good profit. 

 The variations in many herds not selected by the scales 

 range from thirty-five hundred to eight thousand pounds 

 per cow, and the owner in such a case would be better off if 

 he did a smaller business. To carry the illustration further, 

 let us suppose that eight cows yjeld from six to eight thou- 

 sand pounds of milk yearly, with an average of seven 

 thousand. They would return seventy dollars per head, a 

 total of five hundred and sixty dollars ; also that the other 

 four range from thirty-five hundred to five thousand, — an 

 average of four thousand, — and we have as the total of the 



