I06 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



TYPES AND QUALITY OF FARM STOCK. 



, A. P. GROUT, WINCHESTER, ILL. 



Ladies and Genitlemen — I have been wondering ever since I received 

 a letter from your president, Mr. Gurler, inviting me to address this 

 meeting, why he did so. It certainly could not have been from any 

 knowledge I have of him. It is true I was born and raised on a dairy 

 farm in Vermont, but my knowledge of dairying ceased more than thirty 

 years ago, consequently any information I may have concerning dairying 

 is behind the times, it is too old. You don't want any such knowledge 

 here today. 



My first recollections of dairying goes back tq'the time when I was a 

 boy of eight or nine years old in Vermont. I remember tliat we had a 

 small herd of dairy cows, and it so happened that my father and the man 

 employed were away from home one evening and not likely to be back 

 in time to do the milking, and I had an ambition to try milking. It was 

 the first time I had ever milked, but I suceeded in milking eight or ten 

 cows— that constituted our herd at that time. I was very proud of the 

 feat, but soon had time for regret. I found I had made one. of the mistakes 

 of my life. I had to do the milking afterwards. It was especially ag- 

 gravating at times, when I had an engagement to go fishing or swim- 

 ming, and the cream would persist in remaining cream, and I could n'ot 

 make it remain butter. Oh, yes, I did it all. And those were the days be- 

 fore I knew about the right temperature with which to fix the cream. It 

 is true I have a little practical knowledge, but it is too old to bring be- 

 fore you gentlemen today. 



I also have very distinct memories of the odor from those stables. I 

 was reminded of it this morning when Mr. Gurler was talking. Those 

 stables were made for warmth, and the odor was stilling in those stables, 

 I can almost detect it it seems to me today. The process of dairying has 



