ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 45 



the world over as a staple article of food, and yet she returns to 

 the fertility of the farm a large percent of those ingredients found 

 in the food stuffs she has consumed, and when the dairy farmer 

 buys a ton of wheat bran to feed his cows, he gets nitrogen, 

 phosphoric acid and potash valued at $12.30, as compared with 

 the price of commercial fertilizer, or $12.30 of the fertility of 

 the farms of Kansas, the Dakotas and other wheat growing- 

 sections. When he buys a ton of cotton seed meal he gets $26.16 

 worth of soil fertility from the cotton plantations of the south ; a 

 ton of oats, $6.50; a ton of corn, $5.66; or a ton of clover hay, 

 $7.50, and yet, as alarming as it may seem, when he hauls these 

 feed stuffs back to market in the form of butter, he parts with 

 fertilizing ingredients to the value of but 42 cents per ton, and 

 so it would seem that eventually the dairy cow must come to 

 the rescue of many of our run clown farms that are fast becoming 

 exhausted by continual grain raising. 



Some of us are dairymen of a natural born instinct; some 

 are dairymen with a knowledge acquired through study, obser- 

 vation and practical experience, and others are dairymen as they 

 would be anything else, in name only. As in everything else, 

 some are successful, others unsuccessful. Some of us fail because 

 no branch of animal industry appeals to our fancy and because 

 a dairyman's occupation is thrust upon us through force of cir- 

 cumstances, the vocation being distasteful and disagreeable, but 

 more fail because of looking upon the business too lightly and 

 not giving it the thought and study it requires. There is yet 

 much for us all to learn and there is as yet plenty of room at the 

 top of the profession. At the top means a vocation remunerative 

 and pleasant, but at the bottom a life of drudgery and financial 

 embarassment. The dairyman's sky is not always clear, neither 

 need it always be cloudy, if he will take a survey of his own con- 

 ditions and try and cultivate an acquaintance with himself. 



The idea that any one can meet with success in dairying by 

 simply moving in that direction is a great mistake, for as in any 

 other successful enterprise, it takes head work, energy and push, 

 and a thorough knowledge of the subject in order to reach the 



