200 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



I wondered what he wanted. He opened his book and pointed out his 

 example and we worked on it a little while and got it all right, but it wa-; 

 no easy matter, there was work there, and he thanked me and went out. 

 What advantages, I say, are there in our ungraded schools for such a boy 

 as that, are there any advantages at all? Their doors are virtually closed 

 against them. So I say, as I have said before, raise the standard of your 

 district schools, and keep your boys at home as long as you can. 



THE PROFITABLE DAIRY COW. 



PROF. N. W. M"LAIN OF CHICAGO, ILL. 



Thomas Carlyle said: "The population of LoDdon is composed of one 

 million souls, mostly , fools." The re port of the United States Secretary of 

 Agriculture says that there are in the United States nearly sixteen million 

 cows. Without departing from the truth he could have added — mostly 

 scrubs — for he proceeds to add that "The last census reported a butter pro- 

 duct of about 80 pounds per cow, and a cheese product of about 25 pounds 

 per cow, making the average gross earning of cows in the United States 

 about fourteen dollars per 'head per annum. 



I have chosen for the subject of this paper a question, "The Profitable 

 Dairy Cow: How to Get Her and How to Take Care of Her." 



This is a question of the first importance in every conference such as 

 this, and the question that fronts every dairyman in the State. The begin- 

 ning of all knowledge is a question. All progress in knowledge is the result 

 of eager, earnest questioning. 



The figures just quoted forcibly suggest that there is a plentiful lack 

 of profitable dairy cows, and that the disastrously unprofitable cow is un- 

 pleasantly numerous in all parts of the United States. 



