18. MILCH KINE. 



examination, but no one knows from first to last, except the committee 

 and a few anxiously inquiring competitors, which of the many present 

 are superior, or what their good points may be so far as the opinion of 

 the judges is concerned. The peculiar value of a milch cow is made 

 manifest in and through the milk pail. This record can only be known 

 when the published report and statements are distributed, some three 

 months subsequent to the exhibition. That portion of the public 

 which is interested in such matters has no opportunity at that time to 

 to make any comparisons, and has so far lost definite recollection of the 

 subject, that the advantages which the exhibition might and ought to 

 have furnished have come to be of comparatively little importance. 



If an exhibition of this sort is worth anything, its value is to be 

 found mainly in its power to educate the people who attend. The 

 young dairy farmer, more particularly, visits the exhibition to see the 

 best cows, learn what they have done, and to make such comparisons 

 between the best and inferior ones as will enable him more successful- 

 ly to select for rearing or purchase, a class of animals that will be 

 likely to give improved results. If however, the record is not to be 

 found, and the judgment of the committee cannot be ascertaine.d, the 

 whole affair has for him little more value than a painting or a collec- 

 tion of photographs of the animals. 



To obviate these objections, I venture to suggest the propriety of 

 posting the statements, or copies of them, in connection with the de- 

 scriptive cards, and that the judges be instructed to designate in some 

 manner the prize animals as soon as the awards are completed. 



The question was asked by a number of different people, committee- 

 men and others, why grade cows should be compelled to furnish a rec- 

 ord of their doings, while any and all of thoroughbreds were required 

 to show only who their ancestors were ? A cow giving too little milk 

 to fairly nourish her calf might, if her pedigree was all right, obtain 

 the preference over another nearly as perfect in all other respects, and 

 very much superior in this one. If a milch cow has any particular 

 value as such, she ought not to be permitted to thrust her pedigree in 

 our face as the jjrfily answer, when we inquire what quantity of milk 

 she gives, or how much butter or cheese can be obtained from it. It 

 need not be inferred that a grade cow should compete with a thorough- 

 bred, but all the cows of any one of the different breeds ought to com- 

 pete with all others of the same breed that can properly be classed to- 

 gether, and they should each tell the whole story of their qualities and 

 accomplishments as milch cows. 



The accompanying statements give ' pasture,' in most cases, as the 

 staple food of the animals. This term does not convey a very defi- 

 nite meaning. Pastures vary very much in the quantity and quality 

 of food which they furnish. Some are noted for their power to fatten ani- 

 mals rapidly, while others have an undesirable reputation in that respect. 

 Varying soils and different grasses have diverse influences over the 

 milk pail, and though it is probably an unprofitable method of keep- 



