No. 4.] COW AND THE MAN. 105 



Question. When it comes to color of horns or skin, those 

 points are of minor importance, but when it comes to form 

 production, haven't you created a wrong impression ? 



Professor Dean. I have studied that question. I know 

 some men think if you get a cow with a wedge shape and 

 prominent backbone, a bright eye, and all those other points, 

 she'd be a good milker. T want to say from my own experi- 

 ence with buying, breeding and raising cows, that I have seen 

 good cows of all kinds of forms, — that is, in the general 

 form of cows. We have a cow that gives 21,000 pounds of 

 milk, over 900 pounds of butter, in a year, and that without 

 her having the so-called V form. I think too much emphasis 

 has been laid on this matter of form. 



I grant that men have become expert in picking out cows. 

 They have, by an intuition, a something that is very hard to 

 define, been able to select good cows. There are certain things 

 which guide a man, of course. There are many men, however, 

 who will select cows according to form, who will never weigh 

 and test the milk. Is there any association in this country 

 that will allow a man to put cows in the advanced registry 

 according to form ? I don't think there is. That, to my mind, 

 is practical proof that the form theory falls down, because no 

 buyers of dairy stock that I know of will accept animals in 

 advanced registry by their form alone. They must be able 

 to produce the goods. We arrive at that result by using the 

 scale and the Babcock test. Form is all right for certain men, 

 but is of little use for the great mass of dairymen. 



Question. How many seasons did that cow produce 900 

 pounds of butter ? 



Professor Dean. Just one season. This was her second 

 calf. She is a good cow to-day. I see no reason why she 

 should not beat that record. 



Mr. John Buksley (of West Barnstable"). You spoke of 

 the Babcock test ; that it is better than some old fellow's judg- 

 ment. How does it happen that you have so much trouble 

 about getting the same figures one day as another ? The test 

 will come back 15 or 20 one month, and 20 or 21 the next 

 month; and a man is feeding his cows just the same, giving 



