ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 21 



Mr. Gurler : Let me say I gathered this idea from Dr. Tefft. Last year 

 I had thirty-five out of sixty cows abort ; this year I followed out this sug- 

 gestion and only had two. I might say I took one-fourth booe meal and 

 three-fourths salt, mixed them and put it where the cows could get what they 

 wanted. 



T. H. Baker : My experience had been very similar to Dr. Tefft's and 

 Mr. Gurler's ; having: considerable trouble this way two years ago, I began 

 using bone dust, and have had very little trouble since. 



O. Keed : I would like to ask these gentlemen this question,— Do you 

 think it best to keep thf^se aborting cows ? 



Mr. Gurler : I turned off last year the majority of the cows that aborted, 

 and I am sorry that I didn't turn off everyone of them. The balance of 

 them have got to come to it finally. They are simply aborting farrow cows 

 and they don't pay. 



Major H. E. Alvord, N. Y. : It seems to me important on this point 

 to know the value of the cow. Certainly I wouMn't dispose of my best cow 

 if she aborted once or twice in succession. I have had unfortunate experi- 

 ences in this direction. I have not ft^d bone dust or altered my treatment of 

 the animal in the le ist, nor have I disposed of a single one, and the disposi- 

 tion to abort is passiner out of the herd. I believe it is largely epidemic and 

 a matter that will pass away with patience, al hough I would not suggest 

 that there may not be precautions and remedies ; but I would not give up an 

 animal sim,)ly because she aborts ou'-e or twice. 



The President : I have had more or less trouble with those cows 

 bringing forth calves after aborting, still I have kept some of them. I believe 

 the loss of ph »sphares in the pasture is the trouble, just as it was in my 

 grapes. While Mr. Alvord may be in a section where he gets the phosphates 

 replenished in s >rae other wav,WH here do not ret them as readily, and there- 

 fore the lack must be supplied to the cow, and in my judgment it will relieve 

 this difficulty. I prefer to take this method of feedii g direct to the cow, 

 rather than by feeding my land. Mr. Dole, of Crystal lake, asked me for 

 information on this matter some two years ago. I told him what i had done 

 and he sent to Chicago and purchased some b-me dust and sowed it over his 

 pasture, and also fed his cows with it. I was there last year and was told 

 that he had lost but one cow since he sowed it on the land, and that was one 

 cow that had no bone dust. 



Mr. Rice, of N.Y.: I came here hoping to learn as much as possible of 

 the cream gathering system, and if the subject is of interest, I should be glad 

 to ask Mr. Buell the comparative results to the farmer, supposing that the 

 manufacturer gets equal profit in each case ? 



Mr. Buell : That question has been quite fully discussed in our North- 

 western Association and other places, and I do not know that I can throw 

 any new light on it. I think that the answer must necessarily be conditional. 

 That in some localities, without doubt, the system of cream gathering is 

 more profitable; for instance, in the locality in which I live, the whole milk 

 system could not be sustained at all; there couldn't milk enough be secured 

 to operate a factory; we want our milk for our pigs; and it wouldn't be 

 possible to sustain a milk ga-hering cream'^ry in that locality. In o'her 

 localities where the dairies are large, and where a large amount of milk could 



