14 



food will return the most milk, and the increase of food and milk will 

 advance together until the capacity of the machine for this work is 

 reached. In feeding, sound judgement and the most scrupulous care 

 are required in each individual case, that the line of capacit}- l)e not 

 passed and the machine become clogged or ruined. Though nearly all 

 the products of the farm may at certain times and in a proper manner 

 be profitabh' fed to cows, 3-et it is a known fact that quantit}' and 

 qualit}' of milk are materiall}' affected l)y the quality of the food 

 though each kind is of equal abundance. 



The natural grasses before flowering in June, and when in their 

 sweetest, most succulent and nutritious state are a type of the best 

 food for a cow in milk, and in the food fed to her in the stall, the 

 nearer we approach that type, the better for her, her product, and her 

 owner. The quantity ot milk yield can be materially increased by 

 "slush feed," like cooked or steam foddei" of various sorts, or boiled 

 shorts or bran, but the cow will eventually sutfer if this is its sole 

 food. 



As a rule sour or fermenting food, or food with a marked pun- 

 gent oder should be avoided. And in this class ma^' be placed some 

 of our root ahd vegetable crops. All the crops which have been 

 named have a tendency' to produce "thin" milk, or at least thej' do not 

 perceptibly increase the quantity or improve the quality of its normal 

 butter content. But early cut, well cured " English haj-," or blue 

 grass, and the oih' grains like cotton seed, flax seed and Indian corn 

 do this in a marked degree. The two grains first named are so nutri- 

 tious and rich in oil that great care is needed in feeding them lest 

 injur}^ result to the cow, and the butter, though large in quantit}-, may 

 not be of superior excellence in qualit}^ But the grain last named, 

 with the ha}' is undoubtedl}' the best raw material to manufacture 

 choice butter, and at the same time there is nothing better to sustain 

 the system of the cow if she have an occasional feed of the sugar 

 beet as a condiment or appetizer. 



B}^ the comparison which has been made in this report between 

 the modern Ayrshire breed and the original stock from which they 

 came, it has not been intended to represent it as par excellence the 

 best breed for the dairj-, but simply to use it as a single example of 

 the result of effort to improve this class of animals. The Jerse}' or 



