MILCH KINE. 45 



MILCH KINE. 



There were twenty-seveu cows and ten heifers on 

 exhibition for their superior milking properties, making 

 the show, in the department of milch kine, very satis- 

 factory both as to number and quality ; clearly showing 

 that the farmers of Worcester North are fully conscious 

 of the importance of having a good dairy and good dairy 

 stock. On this point perhaps nothing need be said. 

 But there is one subject connected with keeping dairy 

 stock that has not been sufficiently considered by many 

 of our farmers ; indeed, some of them seem to have 

 given it no thought whatever. Since convenient com- 

 munication with the city has been opened by railroad, 

 many have turned their attention to the production of 

 milk ; in fact, some make it the chief business of the 

 farm. Now, to all such it is an important question 

 whether, by this process, they are not gradually but 

 surely impoverishing their farms. Can three hundred, 

 five hundred, or a thousand dollars worth of milk be 

 annually carried off from the farm without diminishing 

 the capability of the soil for future production? 

 Certainly not, unless some proportionate quantity of 

 fertilizing material is brought back to it over and above 

 the manure made from milk-giving cows. For it is a 

 well established fact that the droppings from milch cows 

 are much less strong and active than from other stock, 

 and particularly from animals under the process of 

 fattening. 



In our eagerness to obtain ample, immediate returns 

 for our labor, we must not forget that the true object of 

 the farmer should be, not to get the largest amount from 



