ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 25 



is no channel through which we can market our crops with such 

 good results as through the good dairy cow. 



I have been asked to discuss the profitable dairy cow, and I 

 come to you to-day pleading for the practical dairy cow, the busi- 

 ness cow, the cow that does business at a profit. Now, that does 

 not necessarily mean a cow of any particuuar type or breed, 

 although I am heartily in favor of recognizing and adhering to 

 some good breed. I am a thorough believer in blood, in the 

 potency of good blood and the evil of bad blood. Good cows 

 do not come by chance, nor by haphazard methods, they are 

 the result of skillful, well-directed effort. I take no stock in 

 the doctrine that either great cows or great men spring from 

 nothing, there must be a hereditary foundation, a foundation of 

 good ancestry, and yet, every cow and every breed of cows is to 

 a certain extent the product of its environment. 



The modern, high class dairy cow is altogether an artificial 

 creation and like all other domestic animals she has attained to 

 the highest excellence in the hands of the most skillful breeders. 

 The leading breeds of dairy cows have been developed in the 

 Channel Islands, Holland, Germany and Switzerland and in 

 studying these breeds of cows in their native localities, this one 

 significant fact is noticeable in every case, and that is, that 

 wherever you find a good cow, you will find her surrounded by 

 favorable conditions, you will find her carefully and skillfully 

 fed, you will find her systematically bred; you will find her, 

 keeper appreciating intelligent methods, indeed, it is useless to 

 look for a high degree of dairy excellence under any other 

 conditions. The husbandman of the Jersey Island will neglect 

 everything he has to take care of his Jersey cow, nothing is 

 too good for her. The Holstein has reached her high degree of 

 excellence largely as a result of the careful, painstaking methods 

 of the wife of the Hollander. 



There are two great forces that have produced the dairy 

 cow, — heredity and environment, — and they are not opposing 

 forces as is sometimes claimed; on the contrary, they work 

 together for good when properly directed. The more we study 

 the development of domestic animals, the more we are obliged 



