322 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



a good one for setting the use of large cows in its best light. 

 In the first place, Mr. Boies is widely known as one of the 

 best of dairy managers. He buys and milks a great many 

 cows, and his experience and close observation have made 

 him one of the best judges of milking qualities. He never 

 selects a poor cow. He buys large cows, and, feeding with 

 a very liberal hand, his herd is heavy. Reviewed in June, 

 the year following their yield of 314^ Ibs. of butter per 

 cow, they were estimated to have an average live weight of 

 1,200 Ibs. per head. They were in high order, and many 

 of them could have been sent to the shambles at a good 

 price. It would be very interesting to compare the pro- 

 ducts of his dairy with those of another having an equal 

 number of Jerseys, or other small cows, which were treated 

 as well as he treats his. But no such herd can be named. 

 Good managers of less herds of smaller-sized cows are 

 often met with. Mr. Oliver Bronson, of Chautauqua 

 County, New York, has a herd of twenty natives which, 

 viewed in May last, were estimated to weigh 150 Ibs. per 

 head less than the herd of Mr. Boies. They are kindly 

 cared for, and produced last year 302 Ibs. of butter per 

 cow. Mr. 0. C. Blodgett, of the same county as Mr. 

 Bronson, has a herd of twenty-five Jerseys and their grades, 

 all small cows. Viewed also in May, they were estimated 

 to have an average live weight of 780 Ibs. Though very 

 skillfully managed and fed, their yield last year was 23 4K 

 Ibs. of butter to a cow a diminutive yield, compared with 

 those of Messrs. Boies and Bronson, of 80 Ibs. per cow less 

 than one, and 67/^ less than the other. Judged by the 

 usual standard of product per cow, this dairy would by 

 most dairymen be at once set down as the least desirable 

 and the least profitable of the three. But, in fact, the 

 reverse is true. Mr. Blodgett's dairy is the most profitable 

 in the list, for he gets the most butter in proportion to the 

 food consumed [that is the question at issue]. As 234 is 



