2 : '' b'AtRY GATTLti AND MILK PRODUCTION 



pare Russia with Denmark, and Spain with Holland, to show 

 what the dairy cow will do for a nation. If a list were pre- 

 pared of our own states, selecting those where on the average 

 the soil fertility is best conserved, the most intelligent system 

 of farming followed, and the highest grade of intelligence 

 found among the people, it would be a list of the leading 

 dairy states. 



The dairy cows of the United States number nearly twenty 

 million, and the annual value of their products reaches the 

 enormous sum of nearly one billion dollars. Only the corn 

 crop and animals sold for meat exceed dairy products as a 

 source of income to the American farmer. The rapid growth 

 in the population of our country, together with a slow but 

 constant increase in the per capita consumption of dairy 

 products, makes it certain that the dairy cow will in the 

 future occupy a still more important position. Some of the 

 fundamental reasons why the cow is certain to play an im- 

 portant part in the future agriculture of America are pointed 

 out in the following pages. 



Relation to Fertility of the Soil. It is now conceded 

 that the conservation of the fertility of the soil is the greatest 

 problem of agriculture. There is some difference of opinion 

 as to the possibility of maintaining fertility where grain 

 crops are sold from the farm. It is certain that whether it 

 be possible or not, it is seldom done. So far in our history 

 grain selling has meant selling fertility that has been stored 

 up in the past ages, and has been followed by impoverished 

 soils and unprofitable agriculture. On the other hand, we 

 find farms in almost every locality, and even entire countries 

 can be pointed out where the fertility of the soil has been 

 vastly increased by live-stock farming. The most marked 



