SPECIAL FEEDING FOB MILK. 531 



purposes to look to the capacity of the cow to turn the 

 food into milk. But, without generous and judicious feed- 

 ing, breed is of little consequence. If a cow only produces 

 3,000 pounds of milk per year, she is kept at a loss. A 

 good cow, well fed, will yield 6,000 pounds of good milk ; 

 and the cost of producing this will be only one-eighth 

 more than the 3,000 pounds from the poor cow. Without 

 selection of cows, and judicious and abundant feeding, 

 dairymen cannot receive anything worthy of their labor. 



SPECIAL FEEDING FOB MILK. 



Since certain very partial experiments were made in 

 Germany to test the effect of special feeding upon the com- 

 position of milk, dairymen have been told to seek quality 

 of milk in the breed and not in the food. We are always 

 ready to admit and emphasize the value of breed; but, as 

 we have seen, the best breed of cows must have judicious 

 feeding to render their qualities of any material value. 

 Had food nothing to do in fixing the excellent qualities for 

 which each breed is so much prized ? As far back as the 

 history of the cow reaches, the belief of the learned and 

 unlearned has been, that the quality may be improved, and 

 the flow of milk increased, by special feeding. Virgil, in 

 his " Georgics," makes special mention of articles of food 

 peculiarly adapted to cause a flow of rich milk. Darwin 

 mentions many instances where food has been the cause of 

 variation in animals, while selection and breeding after- 

 wards perpetuated that variation. There is no room to 

 doubt, on philosophical principles, that variation from a 

 fixed type of animal has been caused by food and climate. 

 Suppose the renowned Bakewell, who made such a trans- 

 formation in long-horn cattle and long-wooled sheep, had 

 practiced on this doctrine, that a selection of the breed and 

 not the food would lead to the highest excellence, does 

 anybody, after due consideration, believe that if he had 



