26 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



cows. What does the cow do? She takes out 10 per cent of 

 the fertilizing element of that feed, and gives you back 90 per 

 cent in the shape of manure, which you can haul back on your 

 farm. The first concentrated process. You feed the skim milk 

 to the pigs and calves and the bulk of the fertilizing element in 

 the skim milk all goes back on the farm. You virtually get all 

 back on the farm, and if you buy some feed, why, you are buy- 

 ing fertility. You might say, ''That's well enough for a chemist 

 to say, can you prove your statement?" Again, "Can you give 

 me an illustration of these facts. Yes sir, I can. It was my 

 privilege a few years ago to visit some of the countries in South- 

 ern Europe. The most interesting facts I have to say to you is 

 that great stretch of land around Rome, the basis of the Roman 

 Empire, if you will read history . It was the richest spot on earth, 

 yes, the richest spot on the face of the earth. They raised grains 

 there in abundance, but what have we there today? A desert 

 my friends. Not even grains will grow on that soil. Let me 

 go to the north part of Italy, and what do we find there? You 

 find farms there which today are yielding from 30 to 34 bushels 

 of wheat, and have been under cultivation for hundreds of years. 

 Why is this difference? Simply this: In the north of Italy the 

 dairy cow has been kept on the farm, while the other place none 

 have been kept. That is the secret. 



Switzerland, and you find great big farms, no wheat, no 

 corn, nor any other grain. Grass is the only thing that grows 

 there and the only profitable crop they can raise. They feed it 

 to the dairy cows. If you ask those gentlemen what is the land 

 worth — because frequently we are reminded in this country that 

 you can only raise pasture on cheap land — they will tell you that 

 land is worth from $1500 to $1600 an acre; some of the land 

 in the mountains from $300 to $700 an acre. What makes this 

 increase in the price of land ? Simply this : The increase of pro- 

 duction and the profitableness of the dairy cow. It is the only 

 thing that makes interest upon that land. 



You go up the Rhine to the farms there, or to Germany 

 and Holland, the paradise of the cow, and their land ranges in 



