PREFACE. 



THIS work is designed to embody the most recent 

 information on the subject of dairy farming. My aim 

 has been to make a practically useful book. With this 

 view, I have treated of the several breeds of stock, 

 the diseases to which they are subject, the established 

 principles of breeding, the feeding and management of 

 milch cows, the raising of calves intended for the dairy, 

 and the culture of grasses and plants to be used as fodder. 



For the chapter on the diseases of stock, I am largely 

 indebted to Dr. C. M. Wood, Professor^of the Theory 

 and Practice of Veterinary Medicine, and to Dr. Geo. 

 H. Dadd, Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, both 

 of the Boston Veterinary Institute. If this chapter 

 contributes anything to promote a more humane and 

 judicious treatment of cattle when suffering from dis- 

 ease, I shall feel amply repaid for the labor bestowed 

 upon the whole work. 



The chapter on the Dutch dairy, which I have trans- 

 lated from the German, will be found to be of great 

 practical value, as suggesting much that is applicable 

 to our American dairies. This chapter has never before, 

 to my knowledge, appeared in English. 



The full and complete explanation of Guenon's method 

 of judging and selecting milch cows, a method origin- 

 ally regarded as theoretical, but now generally admitted 

 to be very useful in practice, I have translated from 

 the last edition of the treatise of M. Magne, a very 

 sensible French writer, who has done good service to 

 the agricultural public by the clearness and simplicity 

 with which he has freed that system from its compli- 

 cated details. 



