DAIRY FARMING. 11 



gencies which are to be apprehended constantly, and so 

 many accidents continually threaten to occur in this most 

 intricate business, that unless one is naturally inclined to 

 be careful in every matter of management, the accidents 

 which will surely follow will- be sufficient to rob the. 

 dairyman of his profit. For instance, a gate may be left 

 open, and the cows thus get into a luxuriant clover field, 

 becoming"^ bloated or otherwise injured, and some of 

 them be permanently ruined ; or a cow may be left 

 unfastened in her stall and spend the night roaming 

 about the stable, molesting the other cows and perhaps 

 injuring or even killing one or more of them. The feed 

 box may be left open and the loose cow may be found 

 dead in the morning from overgorging herself with the 

 feed. The water trough may be permitted to overflow 

 on a cold day and an icy spot thereby formed upon 

 which a cow may slip and fatally injure herself. The 

 root cellar may be left open and the roots become frozen, 

 and this stock of indispensable feed be lost. The water 

 trough may be leaking and the cows may go without a 

 supply for the day, and half the day's milk be lost. And 

 so on all through the daily routine of work there are 

 many chances of damage which are to be avoided only 

 by the exercise of great care and constant caution. 



Regularity too in every detail must not be neglected. 

 It is one of the rarest attributes of a man, to be con- 

 stantly regular to hours and minutes, and to methods. 

 And yet it is of the utmost importance in the dairy. A 

 cow is a machine for making milk and butter. This 

 fact should never be lost sight of. And the cow must 

 be fed and watered, and supplied with every attention: 

 milked, turned out and turned in, protected from storm 

 and weather, and in every way managed with perfect 

 regularity. She is an accurate time keeper, and if her 

 feed is late she frets, and fretting wastes milk, and the 

 milk loses cream. This fact was learned by the writer 



