264 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Hubbard. I understood you to say that with half 

 the quantity you kept your cattle in good condition. 



Mr. Stone. I attribute it to this : that preparing the 

 food in this way aids digestion. That is my theory. It aids 

 digestion, helps supply animal heat, and gives a better return 

 for the food consumed. It may not be so, but that is my 

 theory. 



Mr. Hubbard. I think there were two or three very im- 

 portant points brought out in the address of Dr. Loring. 

 One of the most important was the treatment of cows. I 

 believe that one of the most desirable things in the manage- 

 ment of dairy-cows is, that they be treated well and gently. 

 If you speak to a cow sharply when milking her, or hit her a 

 slap, she is a nervous animal, and you see the influence upon 

 her at once. These things occur, and they injure the flow of 

 the milk more than anything else you can do. 



I agree, also, with the suggestion that has been made, that 

 cows should be fed regularly. It is just as important to 

 them as it is to us to have our meals regularly. Whatever 

 the food is they shduld be fed at regular hours, instead of 

 having a quantity of hay given them every time the man 

 went into the barn. Under that system, they were never 

 quiet. 



In regard to feeding cotton-seed meal and oil-meal, I 

 would state that I S;now of one dairy of over fifty cows, where 

 they have fed these things, and have got good results for a 

 short time ; but my object in asking the question was to 

 ascertain whether it was profitable to feed these oily meals at 

 all. It seems to me that they can be fed with perfect safety, 

 if they are fed in small quantities ; but I am satisfied, from 

 the testimony of those whom I have known and the dairies I 

 have seen, that when these substauces are fed in large quan- 

 tities, although the flow of milk is largely increased for a 

 short time, the cows have to be changed ; they cannot be 

 kept more than one or two years. 



Mr. Everett. I have been requested to make a few sug- 

 gestions on one or two points that have been discussed in 

 Dr. Loring's eloquent address. 



He made a distinction between animals raised for the dairy 

 and animals raised for beef. I do not believe in that distinc- 



