258 



Nature-Study Agriculture 



The rate of 

 improve- 

 ment 

 possible 



How to 

 select a 

 good cow; 

 the udder 



Circulation 



herd, but finds a very 

 profitable market for 

 any surplus stock he 

 may have. 



If a dairyman has 

 scrub stock, it is very 

 important that he 

 breed up his herd by 

 always keeping a pure- 

 bred male. The first 

 generation of calves 

 will be at least one 

 half pure; the second 

 generation three 

 fourths ; the third, 

 seven eighths ; and the 

 fifth, fifteen sixteenths 

 pure. In this way 

 even the wild Texas 

 cattle, descendants of 

 animals brought to the 



Southwest by the Spaniards, have gradually been trans- 

 formed into the gentler and more valuable crossbred 

 Shorthorns or Herefords. 



The production of milk. In judging the value of a 

 milk cow we naturally examine first the udder, where 

 the milk is secreted. This should be large but not fleshy, 

 and it should extend well forward and also well up behind. 

 Another sign of a good milker is a large milk vein 

 (Fig. 207). This vein runs like a rope along the under 

 side of the cow's body, carrying blood from the udder 



W. T. Stilling 



FIG. 206. Dairy scale and sheet for keeping 

 a daily record of the milk produced by every 

 cow in a herd. Such a record will enable 

 the farmer to tell just how profitable it may 

 be to keep each cow. 



