THE DAIKY QUESTION — THE COMING STYLE. 249 



range " Avhen she was giving only one pint of milk (in ad- 

 dition to one j)int allowed the calf), and her yield of milk 

 increased six -fold within two weeks, simply from being fed 

 a mess of bran and corn-meal twice a day, with an arm- 

 load of fodder now and then, and not being compelled to 

 wander for miles in search of food. 



Who will say that this small amount of food was not a 

 good investment ? 



And, moreover, it shows that a great deal can be done 

 with our common native stock even in their present degen- 

 erate condition. In fact it is to this stock, already accli- 

 mated and used to *' roughing" it, that Florida must look 

 for the basis of future improvement in the dairy. 



All Florida wants is to have her native stock brought 

 back to where it was when the earliest settlers imported it 

 from Europe ; and to attain this end each neighborhood 

 needs only to secure a few pure Jersey, Guinea, Durham, 

 and Ayreshire bulls. 



Then, in a few years, when the female descendants came 

 to be milkers, a vast difference would be at once percep- 

 tible. Kill off the males of the old stock, import those 

 named above, as they have been proven to be especially 

 adapted to Southern climates, provide food and pasture, 

 and the dairy question is solved completely and satisfac- 

 torily. 



There is more merit in the common cows of Florida 

 than they get credit for ; they respond very quickly to a 

 more generous supply of food than they usually receive ; 

 and if this were steadily given and the improving elements 

 above alluded to introduced among them, her people would 

 be content and with reason. 



It is not to be denied, however, that it is not every one 

 of these " curous critters," as at present constituted, that 

 will permit itself to be well treated. Many Florida cows 



