176 How THE FARM PAYS. 



and that as long as he lived he would breed to no other bulls but the 

 Jerseys. He now has several crosses of the Jerseys in his herd and 

 you could not buy them for $100 each. I had an order from Texas 

 asking if I could procure a car load of half breeds in this vicinity. I 

 tried the old gentleman, but in vain, for although he had them he 

 would not part with them. And this, which is by no means an excep- 

 tional case, tells the whole story. It is for wide-awake farmers to 

 watch the changes of events in their business outside of their own 

 farms, as well as inside of them, and to know what is going on 

 around them, and when they see how some improvement can be made 

 to seize upon it. A Jersey buh 1 , at a cost of $200 or $250, would 

 double the value of a herd of fifty cows in three years, at a cost of no 

 more than $5 for each heifer calf reared. It is safe to say that each 

 of these young cows would be worth $100 each, which is a return of 

 $5,000 for the $250 in three years. This is one way in which the value 

 of the Jersey breed can be made available to every farmer. 



THE MANAGEMENT OF THE DAIRY. 



The first great care in the management of the dairy is cleanliness. 

 If the cows are kept in a filthy state, the milk will certainly become 

 tainted less or more, and this taint will surely affect the cream and 

 butter. Therefore I use every precaution to keep the cows clean and 

 the stables free from taint or bad odors, and not only the stables, but 

 the surroundings. Girls and boys make the best milkers, because 

 their hands are small, and are less liable to hurt the cows; and it 

 won't hurt any girl or boy to know how to milk, for if it is never 

 necessary that they should do the work, they should always be able to 

 know how it should be done and when it is well done. There are 

 many ways of milking. Some clasp the teat with the whole hand and 

 squeeze and pull at the same time; others use only the forefinger and 

 thumb, with a sort of stripping motion. The first method is especially 

 objectionable where the hand is large, as the fingers double in around 

 the teat, and there is danger of pinching the teat with the finger 

 nails. Stripping should rarely be practiced, excepting in cases where 

 the teat is very small, or as a rest to the milker's wrist, occasionally. 

 I once had a Swiss in my employ who, in milking, doubled up his 

 thumb against the teat, placing his fingers around it, and I found he 

 was much the easiest and best milker I ever had; and since then I 

 have made my boys learn the same method. This way of milking is 

 by far the best for men, because doubling the thumb in lessens the 

 capacity of the hand, and the fingers reaching around the teat lap onto 

 the thumb, and thus protect it from the finger nails. In milking 

 with the whole hand the teat should not be pulled down, but squeezed 



