212 RURAL NEW YORK 



the largest present profit and the longest practicable 

 degree of permanence of the productive capacity of 

 the soil are both to be attained. 



CATTLE AND DAIRYING (See Figs. 28, 29) 



The dairy cow from her numbers and the value 

 of her products commands first place among all farm 

 products in New York. It has already been pointed 

 out that the trend in live-stock has been for many 

 years toward tlie dairy cow because she is very well 

 suited to utilize the large amount of roughage on 

 the farm and to improve the use of farm labor dur- 

 ing the rather long winter period. The confinement 

 to regular hours and continuous daily care involved 

 in dairying has without doubt hampered the atten- 

 tion given to all forms of community activities and 

 doubtless could be traced in their effect on the 

 school, the church and the drift of young people 

 from the farm. There has not been the same state- 

 wide interest on the part of dairymen in gathering 

 in public meetings for their improvement that is man- 

 ifested among the growers of fruit, for example. 



The million and a half dairy cows are mostly 

 concentrated in three main regions : first, in a broad 

 band through the State from north to south reaching 

 from the St. Lawrence Valley; second, around the 

 eastern end of Lake Ontario, and southward be- 

 tween Syracuse and Utica, through the Chenango 

 and Susquehanna Valley regions to the southern 

 boundary; third, in the extreme southwestern three 

 or four counties of the State. The most intense con- 



