No. 4.] THE PROFITABLK DAIRY COW. 71 



lie cost, to a neighbor ; and then another of the same breed, 

 of somewhat different bk)od lines, took his place. He was 

 of the same type and character ; and thus they hoped to 

 continue the uniform development of the herd. It gratified 

 John not a little bit that a neighbor should want to own the 

 old bull, for it meant that the gospel of good breeding was 

 spreading in the community. 



The health of their stock had been good ever since the 

 new administration beo-an. The lessons which he had 

 learned from the college veterinary instructor had been help- 

 ful on occasions, and simply emphasized the useful character 

 of his training during those four years. Milk fever, the 

 dread of all dairy cattle men, had visited him but little. 

 His motto was, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound 

 of cure ;" so he fed cooling, laxative foods before and after 

 calving, kept the cows clean and in healthy condition, and 

 then acted quickly if sickness occurred. Later on in his 

 career, when he had many heavy milkers, he adopted the 

 method of injecting sterilized air into the udder when milk 

 fever occurred, and with highly gratifying results. 



As the herd grew in age and quality, the subject of future 

 improvement was never lost sight of. Good dairy literature 

 found its way on to the sitting room table, including both 

 experiment station pul)lications and dairy and live stock 

 journals. 



One day at the dinner table John surprised the family by 

 announcing that he was seriously considering going to the 

 World's Fair. He would enjoy the change, but he said : 

 "Father, I would like to see the dairy cattle test, and study 

 the cows there a bit. As those animals represent select 

 ones of difterent breeds from over the country, I should like 

 to examine them, and study both type and breed." "Well, 

 if I were you, John," said the elder, "I woidd not only see 

 those cattle, liut would stop at Syracuse and Rochester and 

 see those two herds of Firth and Bogswell. AVe have road 

 a deal of them, and of the remarkable records some of their 

 cows have made, and it might pay you to stoj) en route and 

 see them ; you might pick up some ideas on breeding and 

 manairement." 



