THE MILK MACHINE 319 
The ten heifers which I reserved in the spring 
of 1896 were now nearly two years old. They 
were expected to “come in” in the early autumn, 
when they would supplement the older herd. 
The cows purchased in 1895 were now five years 
old, and quite equal to the large demand which 
we made upon them. They had grown to be 
enormous creatures, from thirteen hundred to 
fourteen hundred pounds in weight, and they were 
proving their excellence as milk producers by 
yielding an average of forty poundsa day. We 
had, and still have, one remarkable milker, who 
thinks nothing of yielding seventy pounds when 
fresh, and who doesn’t fall below twenty-five 
pounds when we are forced to dry her off. I 
have no doubt that she would be a successful 
candidate for advanced registration if we put 
her to the test. For ten months in each year 
these cows give such quantities of milk as would 
surprise a man not acquainted with this noble 
Dutch family. My five common cows were good 
of their kind, but they were not in the class with 
the Holsteins. They were not “robber” cows, 
for they fully earned their food; but there was 
no great profit in them. To be sure, they did 
not eat more than two-thirds as much as the 
Holsteins; but that fact did not stand to their 
credit, for the basic principle of factory farming 
is to consume as much raw material as possible 
and to turn out its equivalent in finished product. 
The common cows consumed only two-thirds as 
