No. 4.] FEEDING OF DAIRY COWS. 135 



of that period it was increased to six pounds of meal per 

 day, — a progressive increase in the quantity of meal each 

 fortnight. One group of cows was on a low-grade ration, 

 one on a high-grade ration, and the third received a ration 

 of progressively richer quality. The experiment was con- 

 tinued until the' cows of the third group obtained twelve 

 pounds of meal per head per day. We have conducted over 

 twenty thousand single tests of milk. We have not based 

 our conclusions on imperfect data. In those twenty thou- 

 sand tests the milk was in every case tested morning and 

 evening, except on Sundays, and I did not find any greater 

 increase in the percentage of solids in the milk of the cows 

 receiving the progressive ration than I did in the milk of 

 the cows of the other two groups. The conclusion I draw 

 is, that if a cow gets a succulent ration and not more than 

 six pounds of meal per day, she will produce as good milk 

 as the cow fed on the richer ration I have mentioned. 



My experiments lead to the conclusion that most cows are 

 up to the limit of their capacity for richness of milk, but 

 that few of them are up to their capacity in quantity of milk. 

 Many cows can be fed with more meal, by which the 

 quantity of milk can be increased ; liut in the case of the 

 cows at our farm, I think they are almost all at their limit 

 of capacity for percentage of solids. 



The object was not to carry out a fad, but for this purpose 

 alone, that I believed, and believe now, that you cannot in 

 our country feed more than six or seven pounds of grain per 

 day with any profit to the average cow. I can make a cow 

 eat far more than that, and I wanted to show the farmers 

 they would not get any richer milk. I carried out the test, 

 and found that with these richer rations I got a larger quan- 

 tity of milk, and more butter per day ; but after I got past 

 seven pounds of meal per head the limit of profit was 

 reached. I got more butter, but at increased cost ; and I 

 would rather have less butter and more profit. 



I regard twenty-two cents a pound as the price of butter 

 to predicate the price on. We do not get as much for our 

 butter in certain seasons of the year as you do here ; but we 

 do not have to pay quite so much for our feed, and the one 

 balances the other. 



