ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 79 



good old cow, who is man's most profitable, indispensable property 

 of all domestic animals. Without the good old cow to help sup- 

 ply the food item and raise the oxen to break up the native soil, 

 the pioneers of this country would have never ventured into the 

 wilderness to make a permanent home for themselves and their 

 children. So you see. it was the cow that helped transform 

 wilderness into habitable, homelike country. And now, after 

 some seventy odd years of development, farming and crop raising, 

 it is- her again that is called to help build up, restore and 

 replenish to a great extent the exhausted productiveness of our 

 farm lands. 



From the pioneer days up to about twenty years ago, there 

 was not, however, much development of the dairy business for 

 two reasons. One reason was because the people thought they 

 did not have to, or, rather, were not aware they would eventually 

 farm themselves out by continual crop-raising, without replacing 

 the fertility. You see they were always taking from the soil. 

 The other reason was, they did not want to, because it did not pay. 



In the earlier days of this country there was no market or 

 demand for dairy products as we have now. The town and 

 cities often had as many cows as families that lived inside their 

 corporation limits. 



While domestic animals were running at large, they were 

 very little expense during the summer months, and in winter 

 those town cows would always be on the lookout for the farmers 

 to come in with loads of hay or corn, or anything that came 

 handy, even if it was bran or shorts gotten at the mills. Under 

 those circumstances, they could have their milk supply fresh and 

 unadulterated, and as clean as they cared to make it, at less cost 

 than a dairyman could possibly furnish it. 



However, these things gradually changed and a little custom 

 dairying began. Besides that, a few farmers, or rather farmers' 

 wives, made a special effort to make good, first-class butter, for 

 which they invariably succeeded in getting a good price. My 

 wife, at one time, had a trade established for butter for which 



