220 RURAL NEW YORK 



cost of keeping a cow for a year, it is evident that 

 many animals are being kept at a loss if a fair charge 

 were made for all items of expense. One-fourth of 

 all cows in tlie State are kept at a loss ; one-half Just 

 pay their way and one-fourth return a profit. 



The shifts in the numbers of dairy cattle follow 

 the demands of the large urban populations for milk 

 and its products. The milk is used for four main 

 purposes. The proportion required in each group 

 is: raw or market milk and cream for direct human 

 consumption, 40. G per cent; for the manufacture of 

 hutter, 34.2 per cent ; for the manufacture of cheese, 

 20.8 per cent; and for condensed and evaporated 

 milk, 4.4 per cent. These figures are for 1910. 

 The most important change in these proportions is 

 toward an increase in market and condensed milk, 

 and corresponding reductions in the production of 

 butter and cheese. In the ten years preceding 1910, 

 the production of butter decreased 40.0 per cent and 

 that of cheese 18.7 per cent. The heaviest reduction 

 was in the farm-made products. The large urban 

 population in and near the State, especially concen- 

 trated in New York City, accounts for this shift in 

 the utilization of milk and tlie tendency to increase 

 the number of cows. Milk has long been the cheap- 

 est animal nutriment and that most economically 

 produced. There is, therefore, a sound basis behind 

 the trend toward cows among farm animals as com- 

 pared with beef cattle, pork and mutton. 



Cattle other than the dairy type are kept in small 



