104 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



the same pattern they were forty years ago. I do not believe 

 the dairy cow is any more liable than the beef cow to tuber- 

 culosis, pleuro-pneumonia or any infectious disease. 



The tendency to these diseases among our dairy herds is 

 not because they are Jerseys, Guernseys, Holsteins or Ayr- 

 shires, or because they are dairy cattle in general. The 

 dairy constitution is just as resistant as is the beef consti- 

 tution. The investigations by the Canadian government 

 and the Minnesota Experiment Station prove this. The 

 cause lies, I believe, in our own lack of good sanitary judg- 

 ment. All infections thrive best among large aggregations 

 of men and animals. We have crowded our dark, foul, 

 unventilated stables with too many cows. We have been 

 stingy of room and sunlight, and prodigal of life and health. 



The demands of modern sanitary science will teach us 

 better if we are not wrapped too closely in the mummy- 

 cloth of old notions and prejudices. It is said that Raphael 

 was once asked to give in a single sentence a true definition 

 of art. His answer was, " The ability to see." Unless the 

 mind's eye can see the picture clearly and truly, the hand 

 will never paint it. 



This is just as true of the art of dairying as of the art of 

 painting. The great difficulty everywhere with the farmer 

 is to get him to see dairy truth. The ability and the dis- 

 position to do will follow quickly after. His first effort, 

 then, should be to give himself more opportunity to see 

 dairy truths in the light of modern necessities and demands. 



The Chairman. An opportunity will now be given for 

 discussion, or for asking questions of the lecturer. 



Mr. G. M. Whitaker (of Boston). I would like to 

 have the lecturer state his opinion as to the importance of 

 valuing a cow's milk by the total solids contained in it, 

 rather than by the number of quarts. 



Ex-Governor Hoard. I look upon that question just as 

 I do upon the coinage question. I am not a sixteen-to-one 

 man. I believe in the valuing of milk by the solids it con- 

 tains, not only for the reason that it is more just, but 

 because I want to see every condition of dairy work made a 



