30 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



Mr. Lynde. At the Amherst Experiment Station, as I 

 understood you, the best cow gave a profit of ninety-three 

 dollars, and the poorest a loss of three dollars. I keep a 

 dairy, I sell milk, and I raise stock ; that is my business. 

 Now, it is very desirable to have cows that will give ninety- 

 three dollars profit, rather than cows that will make a loss of 

 three dollars. I would like to have the professor tell us 

 how we are going to get cows that will give ninety-three 

 dollars profit, and how long it will take us to do it. Gentle- 

 men who are breeding in order to obtain the very best stock 

 know that there are some difficulties in determining on the 

 calf that will make a first-class cow. 



Professor Wiiitcher. That is a very hard question. Its 

 answer would involve an hour's talk ; but I will tell you two or 

 three points that can be brought out in that connection. In 

 the first place, it is the same old answer that applies to 

 everything. The question is often asked, " If everybody 

 did so-and-so, what would be the result ? " In the first place, 

 everybody will not do it. It is quite possible for everybody 

 to do it, but we know that they will not. In the second 

 place, if you do not start for a given place, you certainly 

 will not get there. Now, the question of time has really 

 nothing to do with it. If all the farmers of Massachusetts 

 want to get that class of cows, they have got to make a 

 beginning ; they cannot all get them at once, they have got to 

 be obtained by careful breeding and by selection. There is 

 an argument in favor of farmers raising their own cows. 

 I understand that the milkmen of Massachusetts are not 

 breeding their own cows to any great extent, but they are 

 trusting to other people to do the breeding. If a man has a 

 herd of fifty cows, and is making butter, he has a method of 

 testing them which will enable him to determine whether 

 each individual cow is profitable, or not. Up in New Hamp- 

 shire we are interested in making butter, and therefore the 

 value of milk for the production of cream comes in. In 

 Massachusetts, if a man's milk is above the legal standard, 

 he does not have much trouble ; if it is a little below it, he 

 is all right ; if it is a good deal below it, he is likely to get 

 into difficulty. Suppose a man has fifty cows, and thirty of 

 them are first class or moderately profitable, and the remain- 



