PREFACE 



There is no branch of agriculture which yields 

 so handsome and so satisfactory returns to the 

 farmer as the dairy industry, if properly pur- 

 sued. To be sure, there are other branches 

 which give larger returns, but these large profits 

 are more than offset by the loss to the soil and 

 the uncertainty of a crop each year. Tobacco 

 may be grown successfully for a number of years 

 on the same piece of ground, but the soil must be 

 diligently worked and extensively fertilized. In 

 the end the overtaxed soil refuses to respond and 

 finally lies exhausted. So it is with grain farm- 

 ing. One cannot draw continually on a bank 

 account without renewing his deposits there. 

 Neither can the farmer draw continually from 

 the storehouse of plant food which he possesses; 

 that is, from the soil of his farm, without put- 

 ting back the same amount of fertility that he 

 takes off with his crop, unless he wishes to wear 

 out and ruin his farm. 



Now, in dairy farming the larger portion of 

 all that is raised on the farm is fed there and 

 ultimately finds its way back to the soil in the 



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