116 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



machinery, how much in high priced stock, high priced feed, 

 high priced labor, etc. Or in other words, keep a strict book 

 account of transactions of the business, so you will know where 

 you stand each and every month. Post yourself upon quality and 

 yield of crops, and on the type, quality and value of stock you | 

 wish to keep — all of which will tend to raise the standard of 

 farming. 



Now the question is, are we making the most of the oppor- 

 tunity offered. For instance, over here at the experimental field 

 at Edgewood, where they told Dr. Hopkins the land was so poor 

 it would not gro wclover, and did he not with a little treatment 

 of the soil grow a ton and a half to the acre. The following 

 season it was planted to corn, and when we visited the field in 

 September the general opinion of the twenty-five or thirty 

 farmers present was that it would yield 75 to 85 bushels per acre, 

 which I should judge was double or nearly triple the yield of 

 other fields in the immediate vicinity. 



If the land responds so readily to treatment of that sort, it 

 is easy to see the benefits to be derived from the keeping of a 

 dairy — on the soil in this locality. Having scales near the barn 

 I have made it a point to determine the amount of fertility a 

 dairy will produce per cow in 24 hours. The cows being stabled 

 all of the time with the exception of half an hour or so. 



And I found by weighing the manure for several days in 

 succession that a cow would furnish an average of 85 pounds. 

 The cows are heavily bedded and kept on cement floor, so all 

 the fertility is saved. This is one of the important factors in 

 dairy farming. 



During the past season the Department of Agriculture sent 

 out a man to different states to find out the farmers' way of 

 keeping up the fertility of the soil. I gave him this illustration. 

 For instance, take an acre of corn, say 50 bushels, which is a 

 moderate yield, and would make 2800 pounds of finely ground 

 meal. Add to this 2800 pounds of light flaky bran, which would 

 make 5,600 pounds. Now I think you would all agree with me 

 that 20 pounds of this mixture would make a good feed for a 



