CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 43 



a little more, and then leave a fine carcass for the butcher. She should 

 give GOO gallons of milk per annum, and she will do it if we will do our 

 part towards making her do it. For the 600 gallons of milk that she 

 gives us, care and attention are all she asks from. us. This is not only 

 true of one race of cows, but it is true of all, the scrub as well as the 

 finest. This is what the English have long since realized, and this is 

 the history of the fine breeds of cattle in Europe. They are fine because 

 they have been bred up to it by care and kindness. 



The American who comes to Europe and pays $10,000 or $15,000 for 

 a bull or cow may be truly considered, as he is in England, as hav- 

 ing u the American craze lor English cattle." The question of breed 

 is a rational one, but why should he want to pay such extravagant 

 prices to England for doing that which he can do himself? The his- 

 tory of all breeds of cattle, sheep, horses, mules, dogs, and cats show 

 this. The breeding of stock not only pays well, but it is a business of 

 absorbing interest. A farmer should have an eye single to these quali- 

 ties in his cattle, the calf, the milk, and the beef, each of which has a 

 high value of its own, and each can be developed in exact proportion to 

 a man's efforts to develop them. Those who develop the greater num- 

 ber of these requisites to the highest degree of perfection will be those 

 who succeed, best with breed, with milk, with beef, and in a pecuniary 

 point of view. Care and attention are the foundation of success, and 

 thereupon is laid the superstructure of the requisites mentioned, a super- 

 structure which is perennially repeating itself, improving or deteriorat- 

 ing as the foundation is kept in repair, is strengthened and improved. 



Few farmers in America are there who have a genius or even taste 

 for selection and classification of animals, but at the same time by draw- 

 ing nearer their cattle, and observing them closely, and studying their 

 wants, it would be strange indeed if a marked change for the better 

 were not soon perceived in our own home breeds without dashing 

 them with foreign stock. With the care and attention given to cattle 

 in England and on the Continent, compared with the slip-shod manner 

 of treating them in the United States, it is in no way strange that there 

 should be the difference that is so palpable. With the personal atten- 

 tion, feed, &c., in Belgium a cow will cost her owner at least $108 per 

 year. If she gives six hundred gallons of milk in that time she pays 

 for her maintenance and attention many times, and most of the cows 

 here do it. If you were to tell an American farmer that he must spend 

 $108 per year on his cow he would want to consign you to a lunatic asy- 

 lum at once. 



THE COST OF PRODUCING FINE CATTLE IN ENGLAND. 



The following will give an idea of what it costs in England to have 

 fine cattle. I quote from the Farmers' (London) Journal : 



The cows are kept under cover for about six months, and are tied up in pairs, 40 in 

 one house and about ten in another. The urine runs into a large underground tank, 

 from which, when full, it is carried on to the pasture by a water-cart. The food of 

 the cows varies with their condition, and the more milk they are giving the higher 

 they are fed ; but when dry, or nearly so, they have only roots and hay or straw, un- 

 less it is decided not to keep them for the purposes of the dairy, in which case they 

 are milked and fattened at the same time. When fat they sell for about $150. The 

 following is the amount of food, in tons, consumed by the cows while in the stalls : 



Cotton cake 13 



Barleymeal - 11$ 



Bran 7 10J 



Chaff (i hay, f straw) C 70 



Mangels, pulped 224 



