FOODS FOR rSE IN^ THE DAIRY. 139 



factory profit. But if the cow makes but half a pound 

 there is a loss of this sum, which is ruinous. It is there- 

 fore indispensable that the dairyman should test his cows 

 very carefully, and know the actual product of each. 

 "J'he tests made are — first, for milk and cream ; second, 

 for butter ; third, for quality of the butter ; and, fourth, 

 for feeding. It is clear that all these must- be included m 

 any test to determine the value of the animal. Even if no 

 more than ten cows are kept, such tests should be made. 

 A test is wholly useless unless it is based on certainties 

 and made with precise accuracy. Such tests are as fully 

 scientific as if made by a professor in an experiment 

 station, for science is no more than exact truth of which 

 the reasons and results are ascertained, and which can, 

 therefore, be made the basis for establishing principles 

 upon. Any intelligent farmer can do this for himself in 

 his dairy. Indeed no one else can do it for him, for 

 milk varies in character, and cream even is equally 

 various ; while the cows and the results of feeding differ 

 so much that no certain rule can be laid down from the 

 results reached in any one case to determine another. 

 First, then, the milk of each cow is to be weighed. 

 This is very little trouble. A spring balance hung in the 

 stable is used to weigh the pail with each cow's milk in 

 it separately. That the person who does the weighing, 

 if the master is not there, shall make no mistake, the gross 

 weight is taken and marked down by each milker, on a 

 paper pad hung in the stable with a pencil attached to it. 

 If the owner is there — and he should be to look after his 

 business, which otherwise will not look after him — he 

 should do the weighing and marking down, and then 

 he may take down the net weight of the milk, deducting 

 the known weight of the pail. In our dairy every milk 

 pail used was of precisely the same weight, and made so 

 purposely by the addition of solder on the bottom inside. 

 A twelve-quart pail of good tin, with a cover over half of 



