144 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



their cattle improved and stand second in those pure-bred, 

 with about li per cent. It is probable that, on the whole, 

 the degree of improvement is greater among dairy cattle 

 than in beef stock. There is now little excuse for a dairy- 

 man who wants butter cows failing to have those specially 

 ada})ted to this want through many generations of special 

 breeding. And it has been conclusively demonstrated that 

 the cow which is most profitable for butter making is also 

 most profitable for producing the best cheese. There is no 

 cheese cow, separate and distinct from others. Milk-pro- 

 ducing cows, suited to general city supply, can also be 

 easily found ; but it is hoped that the time is at hand when 

 the milk market will demand quality as well as quantity, 

 and in advance of legal standards. Some dairymen are still 

 searching for the ' ' general-purpose cow ; " these are to be 

 pitied, for they are certain to be distanced in the race by 

 their more enterprising neighbors, who are guided in their 

 selection of stock by the best teachings of the time. 



The health of the herd is of the utmost importance. All 

 thoughtful observers must l)e ready to admit that the mat- 

 ter of providing warm and close stables for dairy cows, 

 especially in New England and other States having long and 

 severe w^inters, has been sadly overdone. To many good 

 herds the result has been destructive. In far too many cases 

 cows have been kept in dark, damp, close, basement stables, 

 subjected to hygienic conditions worse than those attending 

 the worst class of city tenement-houses, or even the slave 

 pens of history. We should all welcome the era of pure air 

 and sunlight. Away out in the State of Washington I lately 

 found a statute requiring at least eight hundred cubic feet of 

 air space for every stabled cow. This is a reasonable re- 

 quirement, and to it might well be added the opportunity 

 for sunshine to daily reach some part of every stall. The 

 enterprising dairyman of to-day will see that the sanitary 

 conditions to which his cows are subjected are as good as 

 those of the house in which his family dwells. This sanitary 

 reform should precede, or at least accompany, the measures 

 taken by State or municipal authorities for eradicating con- 

 tagious and infectious diseases which may be found in the 

 herd. And these measures should be freed from the fads of 



