ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION, 45, 



not a green blade in the country, they recovered in a short time 

 gained in flesh and in ten weeks weighed fully lOO pounds more 

 each than before taking the disease. 



One of the necessities of every dairy is a Babcock tester 

 and a pair of scales, for it will show which cows pay for their 

 board and which do not; feeding at a loss is poor business, 

 weigh and test the milk once every week, no difference where 

 you sell your milk it should be of good quality and sufficient 

 quantity. Our milk goes to St. Louis dealers, who retail it to 

 private families; they test it everyday and insist on it being 

 first-class in every respect; if it does not come up to the standard 

 they are not slow in sending their patrons word. They are even 

 accused by some farmers of reporting milk sour or poor in but- 

 ter fat when it is all right, but on this score we were not troub- 

 led but noticed much variation in our tests of individual cows 

 and found that we could influence the butter fat with the feed. 

 Our chemists have taken to the dictum advanced by the Ger- 

 man chemists Woolff and Kuhn that butter fat cannot be fed 

 into the milk; that a three per cent, cow is so born and will so 

 die in spite of the skill of the feeder. But now, says the Jer- 

 sey Bulletin, comes the German chemist, Prof. Soxhlet, and 

 demonstrates that it can be done and does it. This is very 

 creditable to that organ, in fact all our dairy educators seek 

 after truths and frankly admit them when discovered. 



We, ourselves, frequently noticed the fluctuations in the per- 

 centage of butter fats in our milk from individual cows and 

 could trace them to causes; of these feed was frequently to 

 blame, but we often saw questions asked about the variations, 

 and seldom did the person look for their solution in the manger. 

 Should Prof. Soxhlet's discoveries prove correct, our tables 

 for feeds will need revision and the science of feeding for milk 

 receive a setback. 



We find that the silage in our ration to be cooling to the cow's 

 system and that the grain combined with it has no bad effect, 

 that she will remain useful long, be softer to the touch, nice 

 and sappy, and raise healthier calves. I am now speaking of 



