182 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



it will hold out. There is the greatest difterence between 

 cows in that respect. One of the worst things I have to say 

 about Shorthorn cows from my own experience is that they 

 do not generally hold out as well as some others. But I 

 believe we can do very much to fix this quality, or to 

 establish this quality l)y following the plan I have indicated. 

 I would like to ask Professor Roberts what his idea is 

 upon that. 



Professor Robeets. We breed our cows at all times. 

 We never lock up our dairy. Our dairy runs all the year 

 round, Sundays not excepted. We think we can make milk 

 better and cheaper in the winter than we can in the spring, 

 so of necessity we try to breed a certain number of cows a 

 month. We should breed this heifer about three months 

 after she came in, if she will conceive at that time. If she 

 is giving a fair amount of milk, then she is not likely to con- 

 ceive, and we must wait a longer time. We usually try to 

 breed them so they will have a calf once a year, so as to 

 keep our herd good. 



Mr. Geo. M. Whitaker (of Boston). There is one subject 

 that has a bearing on the dairy question which I would like to 

 inquire about. For years there has been a good deal of dis- 

 cussion and agitation over the oleomargarine question, and 

 at hearings before legislative committees and elsewhere the 

 farmers of the State have been opposed by money men who 

 have told us that the legislation we asked for was wholly 

 unreasonable, because oleomargarine was a valual>Ie food 

 product, almost identical chemically with butter. They said 

 it was just like butter, except a few unimportant volatile 

 oils. Now, the professor in talking about volatile oils led 

 us to think of them as natural stimulants of digestion. I 

 would like to ask his opinion whether or not those few 

 volatile oils which chemists have alluded to in those hearings 

 as so unimportant may really constitute very valuable ele- 

 ments, giving a digestibility to l)utter which does not exist 

 in oleomargarine ? That is a point I have never seen alluded 

 to in any dairy discussion before. 



Professor Roberts. They certainly do. This is not 

 guess-work, l)ut from actual experience. You have only to 

 appeal to your own taste in regard to fruit and all kinds of 



