243 



animal recovers it should be fed for a few days, say a week, on 

 soft diet and receive a littly daily exercise." 



SOME LESSONS FROM THE SEASON. 



By G. E. Morrow, Professor Agriculture, Illinois University: 



The one striking characteristic of the year 1887 in its rela- 

 tion to farming over much of the west was the extreme and long 

 continued drouth. Perhaps in no former year has Illinois, as a 

 whole, suffered so severely from drouth. Dairymen suffered as 

 much as almost any other class of farmers — always excepting 

 those in the southern part of the state, where a great plague of 

 chinch bugs destroyed much that the drouth had spared. 



Prices for dairy products were good; low during the sum- 

 mer, but not lower than in some former years. Prices for sur- 

 plus dairy stock were and are unusually low. This largely con- 

 sequent on the drouth. 



For years I have believed one chief object to be aimed at by 

 progressive farmers in experimentation and changes of practice 

 is lessening cost of production. Sometimes this will be best 

 secured by increasing the quantity produced, but not always. 



The drouth greatly increased the cost of producing dairy 

 products. Foods purchased cost more; more labor was required 

 in caring for and feeding the cows — in some cases scarcity of 

 water caused expenditure of labor and money. The milk prod- 

 uct was decreased or only maintained at a marked increase of 

 cost. 



The most obvious lesson is the necessity for better provision 

 for economically supplementing the pastures in summer, in time 

 of drouth, and utilizing farm products for winter feeding. 



Either milk or beef is most cheaply produced when the. chief 

 food is good pasturage. This may be profitably added to, but 

 we have not come to the time when any other system of sum- 

 mer feeding is so economical as pasturage. So far as both 

 pasturage and hay are concerned the great drouth has increased 

 my appreciation of the value of red clover and orchard grass . 



