ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 135 



a line of work on which we have but little data and it brings the farmers 

 face to face with facts that exist upon their own farms. It shows them 

 that some herds are kept at a good profit, some at a small profit, and 

 others at an actual loss. 



How the Farm Test Was Made. 



The farmers who took up this work were required to weigh and sample 

 the milk from each cow in the herd every seventh week for fourteen con- 

 secutive milkings. After each cow was milked the milk was poured into 

 a weighing pail, weighed, and the weight recorded on a milk sheet directly 

 under the cow's name. A small .sample of milk was then taken with a 

 sample dipper or a milk thief and put into the sample bottles. Corrosive 

 sublimate tablets were used to preserve the samples of milk. Instructions 

 were given to each man to shake the composite samples each day so as 

 to mix the fresh samples with the rest of the milk and keep the cream 

 from becoming dry or hard on the sides of the bottle. The jars that were 

 used for keeping the composite samples were one pint, tin top, covered 

 bottles. When the period of weighing and sampling was completed the 

 samples were tested either on the farm or at the creamerv. 



Apparatus. 



The things necessary for carrying on the work were: A spring scale 

 for weighing the milk; a small dipper or milk thief for taking the sam- 

 ples; bottles for holding the composite samples; corrosive sublimate for 

 preserving them; and milk sheets. All these were furnished by the Ex- 

 periment Station. Each cow was given a name or number which was 

 placed at the top of the milk sheet so that the weights of milk could be 

 put directly under her name or number. Cut No. 1 shows all the neces- 

 sary apparatus for carrying on the work, and Table I is a sample of a 

 farmer's milk record. 



