THIRTY-FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION. ' 39 



crops that do not yield anything like the amount of digestible 

 nutrients per acre that should and can be obtained, and to feed- 

 ing and caring for a herd of cows utterly unable to return a 

 profit because of their inefficiency and poor care. The same ex- 

 penditure of money, skill and labor bestowed in an intelligent 

 manner upon good land and an efficient dairy herd would return 

 a most handsome profit. There is abundant proof of this on the 

 dairy farms of Illinois. Many examples, personally known to 

 the writer, might be cited where men have started with nothing, 

 and in a comparatively few years become well-to-do through the 

 business of milk production, while others in the same neighbor- 

 hood, having farms paid for, to begin with, have lost them 

 through slovenly methods and inefficient cows. We hear much 

 about the drudgery of the dairy business, and this is true under 

 existing conditions on many of our dairy farms today. 



A dairy farm, like any other business, must be run at full 

 capacity and upon firm business principles if it is to be highly 

 remunerative. It must be made to yield the maximum that can 

 be economically produced. 



If every acre of the farm is made to produce a good crop 

 every year, and this crop well harvested and saved in good con- 

 dition and fed to a dairy herd every individual of which is a good, 

 economical producer, the results are astonishingly great. Good 

 tillage, good seed, good crops, well harvested and saved and 

 intelligently fed to good, efficient dairy cows, will multiply the 

 present amount of milk produced per acre on our dairy farms 

 from two to ten times. 



There is still abundant opportunity in milk production for 

 the young man of energy, intelligence and patience. The con- 

 ditions are not the same as they were half a century ago. Land 

 cannot be obtained so cheaply and easily, but with the increased 

 population and modern civilization, there are more conveniences 

 and fewer hardships to undergo, and with the modern knowledge 

 of agriculture so easily obtained, the opportunities for financial 

 gain in milk production are certainly greater than ever before, 

 if advantage be taken of all the resources at command. 



