No. i.] DAIRYING. Ill 



the fkrm, or of the fodders fed upon it ; of the relation 

 thereof to the maintenance of farm fertility ; of sales of fat 

 cows ; of the raising and selling of calves, etc. However, 

 the point I am trying to make here is not as to the exact- 

 ness of these figures, or of all the deductions which may be 

 drawn therefrom ; it is the development of the fact as to 

 the existence in these herds of large numbers of unprofitable 

 animals which is important, and which an investigation of 

 this kind ought to incite their owners to remove. If No. 62, 

 milking 70 grades at a food cost of $40, with a butter return 

 of over $60 per cow, or a cash return for each dollar spent 

 of $1.55, — if No. 62 can do this, his example ought to be 

 an incentive to his neighbors, and his methods, so far as 

 may be, copied. And, per contra, No. 92, whose 27 grade 

 Jerseys cost him $36.50 apiece to feed, yet returned him 

 but 110 pounds of butter apiece worth $21.20, or but 60 

 cents income for each dollar of outgo invested in feed, — 

 No. 92 ought to put on a thinking cap, and consider where 

 he is "at." 



To weigh, test and calculate ; to compare with cost of 

 keeping; to cull. These are relatively simple and fairly 

 certain procedures, but the rest is not as easy to accomplish. 

 One can kill a cow in a moment ; but to get a better one in 

 her place means time, money, special skill, rare judgment, 

 many failures and disappointments, and slow progress. 

 Destructive processes are always simpler than are con- 

 structive ones. 



The usual advice as to the use of a registered bull is more 

 commonly heeded to-day than hitherto ; but the results are 

 more apt to be disappointing than the reverse. Registra- 

 tion is far from being certification. It has been aptly said, 

 "There is no scrub so poor as the pure-bred scrub." The 

 proportion of blanks in breeding is very large ; and unfor- 

 tunately one cannot ahvays tell blanks from prizes with 

 certainty until after three or four years of bovine life have 

 elapsed. For example, we have had at the head of the 

 present experiment station herd at Burlington during the 

 past ten years three different registered bulls. Each of these 

 animals was stated to be among the best get of three famous 



