33 



pay a fair profit, and the next to find out which individuals of 

 the st-<ck are not doin^; it. 



We want information too, respecting- the income farmers of 

 good judgment in the selection of stock actually do receive from 

 such cattle as they can obtain, for it is utterly impracticable for a 

 milk producer to buy a herd of cows which will all prove io be ex- 

 tra. And then the farmer, in deciding whether or not it is profita- 

 ble for him to continue in this branch of his business, must extend 

 his observations over a term of years. He must buy his cows 

 and sell them before he can tell exactly how the account stands. 

 If he buys extra stock for milk he must pay for that quality in 

 the cow, and when her usefulness is ended he must expect to sell 

 her for the sum she is worth for beef. If he has a large stock, 

 he must must expect to lose an animal occasionally, and must 

 constantly expect more or less loss from swelled udder or "gar- 

 get," and hemust bear in mind that a large milker is more liable, 

 to diseases of this nature than a cow yielding a moderate quantity. 



Another point on which more definite knowledge is wanted is 

 the feeding. Milk producers are not agreed as to the food best 

 calculated for making milk. It is agreed that something must 

 be fed besides hay, but whether shorts, fine feed, cotton seed, 

 oil-cake, corn meal or roots is by no means settled. The com- 

 parative value of these different kinds of food for the production 

 of milk is a matter on which few farmers have a well grounded 

 opinion. It is claimed on good authority that cows can be kept 

 much more economically, with equally good results, by giving 

 "chopped feed," instead of feeding the same kinds of provender 

 dry. We know farmers practicing this mode of feeding who 

 think one fourth of the hay can be saved in this wa}', and the 

 cows kept equally well. If this is true it is a fact well worth 

 knowing and practising. On all these points farmers need more 

 definite and precise knowledge which can only be obtained by 

 careful experiment. The sum of it all is that in this, as in a!l other 

 E 



