The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 175 



He could sell three times as much butter as he is making at the 

 present time. The Ruston Creamery, at Ruston, Louisiana, can- 

 not fill half the orders they have at the present time, and the 

 same is true of the New Iberia Creamery. 



There are several advantages to be derived from dairying. 

 The first advantage, which should appeal very strongly to every 

 Southern farmer, is that the dairy, well conducted, improves the 

 soil. A dairyman in North Louisiana, on cut-over lands, who 

 started in about six years ago on land that was producing less 

 than one-third a bale of cotton to the acre. He saved the ferti- 

 lizer from that dairy and put it back on the land, and today he 

 is producing as much cotton on half the ground he did six years 

 ago. In other words, in six years' time, with the intelligent use 

 of the dairy and his by-products, he has doubled the productive 

 capacity of that farm. Another thing is that it furnishes a mar- 

 ket for crops, as some of the crops that cannot be marketed be- 

 cause of the small quantity and the distance to market. If a 

 man has only a few tons of pea vine hay or soy bean hay, and 

 cannot get it to the market, the best market is the dairy cow. 

 Again, he may have some forage crops that are not in market- 

 able condition, some that are poor in quality. That can be used 

 for feeding and put right back on the soil. One instance of this : 

 At New Iberia a man used cane tops for silage — not that I would 

 advocate cane tops for silage, but it helps out in his feeding, and 

 is one of the by-products of the cane. 



A man that makes a good quality of product, butter or cream 

 or whole milk, is sure of a market ; but the quality must be good. 

 I might state at this time that in any whole milk industry, a 

 great improvement can be made by more winter dairying. In 

 that way a more uniform supply can be furnished in the cities. 

 Last November and December some of the places along the 

 Illinois Central were- shipping only about half what they are at 

 the present time, which, you see, is not the best way of doing. 



Some of the farmers claim they are not making money in 

 the dairy business. There are some reasons for that. First, the 

 cost of production is too high ; and there are many cows in this 

 state that are not paying for the feed they eat. The second 

 reason is the lack of system in feeding. If you investigate some 

 of the good farms, you will find that every cow in that dairy is 

 getting the same amount of feed, regardless of the amount of 

 milk she produces. Third, you will find there is no economy 



The Cow as a 

 Soil Improver 



Dairy Prod- 

 ucts Com- 

 mand Ready 

 Market 



Reasons for 

 Dairying Fail- 

 ures 



