in the expectation thereby to do for the Red Polled breed what has 

 been done for the Yorkshire Polled, the Irish Polled, and other va- 

 rieties of cattle which were doing good service before the Shorthorn 

 was in existence. 



I ask the consent of my readers to a challenge of an impartial 

 investigation of my assertion that the battalion of Facts and Figures 

 drawn up in their varied ranks in this essay uphold the declaration 

 of the Missouri professor that the Red Polled cattle are "The most 

 typical of the Real Dual Purpose Breeds." 



Red Polled Cattle have been exported to South America, South 

 Africa, Australia, and to other distant lands, while at home they 

 are extending the area of their influence. 



It has been my aim in presenting the long array of Milk Records 

 to show what progress has been made in a section of Farm Economics 

 which has been well-nigh neglected. An endeavor to create a sen- 

 sation, by publishing a big record made in a year, has been all too 

 common a fault, and the principles of evolution have been almost 

 forgotten. Where I have set down an average of yields, the annual 

 total yields have varied but little during the period named; excep- 

 tional returns being quoted apart, and not included for the making 

 of a heavy average. In all cases the number of days when milk was 

 yielded is stated within parentheses, so that the duration of the lac- 

 tation period can be known. As evidence that a record of one day's 

 milk yield in each week, carried on during the days of lactation, will 

 approximate to the year's record, I have given in full the daily yield 

 in 1882-3 of the young cow 1451 Davy 27 HI. That the hardly less 

 important recording of butter-fat contents may be truly estimated 

 by a couple of brief trials the Vermont Experimental Station has 

 demonstrated. Its conclusions are quoted in the supplementary pages 

 of the essay. A photo-snapshot of the fully developed cow, kept for use, 

 should complete the breeder's knowledge whether there is progress, 

 or a standstill, which means loss of capital. 



The not .less important question from the view of the believer 

 in Farm Economics of the cost of food consumed has been under 

 examination and test for many years at American University Experi- 

 ment stations. At the Minnesota Station such work has been carried 

 on from 1893. The bulletins unfortunately, ignore the Dual-Purpose 

 cow. Possibly it will now have its turn. Then, there should be 

 a good practical manual made ready for the British farmer. I have 

 in a supplement to the essay, tried to cast some light on the food 

 question by re-printing results which were the outcome of the Buffalo 

 Pan-American Exposition Six Months Test in 1901. Averages of each 

 of the ten breeds were quoted at the time. But for a knowledge of 

 what the test really meant, I have given the return by each of the 

 fifty cows: Fifteen dual-purpose cows, twenty generally recognized 

 as dairy cows, and fifteen localized as such. 



