No. 4.] NEW ENGLAND DAIRYING. 167 



of Maine and myself wrestled with this problem at Portland. 

 The charts which I have hung on my right were the banners 

 under which I fought. In the brief time which can be 

 allotted to this section of the general subject, I can hardly 

 do more than allude to the salient points. Without any 

 attempt to go into the matter of the science of stock feeding, 

 let me call attention to what appear to me to be the more 

 economical roughages and concentrates, and what are prob- 

 ably uneconomical at ruling prices. 



1 want you to remember, as I have done, a remark of 

 Director Jordan of the New York station, made in an 

 address to the Vermont Dairymen's Association last year. 

 His epigrammatical statement struck me as very apt, and 

 seems worthy of emphasis and reiteration. I believe that it 

 strikes the key-note of the successful dairy practice of to- 

 day, in so far as it pertains to feeding. He said that the 

 "proper function of the farm in dairy feeding is that of a 

 carbohydrate factory, and the proper function of the market 

 is that of a protein supply." What did he mean by this 

 statement? lie meant three things : («) that carbohydrates 

 were grown upon the farm with relative ease, but that it was 

 difficult and usually impossible to grow enough protein upon 

 the farm to provide a large number of dairy cows with a 

 balanced ration ; (b) that, since the by-products of several 

 industries are notably rich in protein and are sold at fairly 

 reasonable prices, it was sometimes cheaper to buy this ma- 

 terial than to raise it; (c) that, while the farm growing of 

 protein was to be encouraged, yet it was usually in the line 

 of economy to grow carbohydrates in as large amounts as 

 possible, and to buy protein in order to supplement this 

 growth, thus properly balancing the ration, provided the 

 class of cows to which the ration was fed was of the proper 

 grade. 



In my judgment, the more common roughages and con- 

 centrates may be classified as economical and uneconomical 

 for feeding dairy cows, as follows : — 



Economical roughages: (1) early-cut hay; (2) silage 

 from mature corn; (3) oats and peas; (4) clover. 



Uneconomical roughages: (1) late-cut hay; (2) silage 

 from immature corn ; (3) roots ; (4) new and untried crops. 



