No. 4.] DAIRYING. 107 



. . . is . . . lost by the other fellow. , . . There are not su- 

 perior cows enough in existence to meet the wants of all wlio 

 realize the advantage coming from their possession. 



The editorial then goes on to say that the exhortation to 

 breed from a registered bull is not a panacea ; that few sires 

 beget offspring materially better than the cows with which 

 they are mated ; and that the breeding of superior animals 

 is a complicated problem of uncertain outcome. 



Now is there not some middle gi'ound? The average 

 Massachusetts cow gives 51(1 gallons of milk, or but (37 per 

 cent of the precept standard of 765 gallons (6,500 pounds). 

 There are many giving more than this, and, obviously, many 

 giving less. It is so simple a thing for a dairyman to de- 

 termine the milk vield of each cow ; the time element is so 

 negligible, the apparatus so simple, the operation so kinder- 

 oartenish and the information afforded so illuminatinjr that 

 it is incredible that so few carry it out. Spring balances 

 with pointer so set that the empty pail lirings it to the 

 zero mark, a ruled sheet of paper and a pencil constitute 

 the apparatus ; hanging the full pail on the scale, noting, 

 recording, footing up of the totals constitute the operation. 

 That is all. 



Even this relatively small amount of work may be reduced 

 to but one-tenth its volume without seriously affecting the 

 validity of the results. If one weighs the milk of each cow 

 during any three da3's in each month, say, for instance, the 

 15th, 16th and 17th, or the 10th, 20th and 30th, and then 

 puts a zero at the end of the additions, the result will be 

 close enough to the weights which would have been obtained 

 during the entire year had weights been made daily ; that is 

 to say, close enough to enable one to detect the unprofitable 

 animals. Of course one naturally takes cognizance of a 

 shortened month, if the animal comes in or goes dry during 

 the month. This statement as to the validity of the data 

 thus obtained is based on a thorough survey of the immense 

 mass of data at hand, obtained during seventeen years at the 

 Vermont station with a herd of from 12 to 70 cows. 



What does it mean in terms of time? Twent)- cows, in 

 milk on the average say ten months in the year, 20 X 6 



