ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN S ASSOCIATION. 157 



take the scepter from her, her friends maintain that she still 

 holds it." 



DAIRY CATTLE. 



(Excerpts from Hon. J. Q. A. Dean's paper before National Stock Association.) 



The average milch cow of the United States does not yet 

 average 400 gallons of milk per year, and in the special milk 

 making regions the average does not exceed 500 gallons. Yet 

 there are numerous single herds of ordinary breeding, but well 

 selected, where the annual yield is from 800 to 900 gallons per 

 cow, and others of pure dairy-bred animals where the average 

 ranges from 1,000 to 1,200 gallons per cow. 



It will readily be seen that the improvement of the dairy 

 cow is of vast importance to cattle growers of America, as the 

 addition to the milk production of but a' few gallons to each cow 

 means a large amount added to the aggregate receipts of the 

 dairy. The time was when almost every cow that would give 

 a reasonable supply of milk was satisfactory, but with the intro- 

 duction of the creamery and the better methods for manipulat- 

 ing her products, the improvement of the dairy cow becomes 

 an imperative necessity. 



The improvement of the cow by expert breeding, by which 

 her capacity for profitable production has been so largely in- 

 creased that when formerly an average of 2,000 pounds of 

 milk and 125 pounds of butter would do we are not now con- 

 tent with 6,000 pounds of milk and 300 pounds of butter per 

 year. 



The dairy cow is now bid for specialty of product. The 

 general purpose cow is for the time lost sight of, and special 

 breeding for milk production and butter production is the order. 

 The Ayrshire cow and the Holstein-Fresian for quality of milk, 

 and the Guernsey and Jersey cow for butter. 



The Jersey shows what can be accomplished for the im- 

 provement of the butter cow. While the quantity of milk given 

 by the Jersey is not as large as that given by the black and 



