36 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



There are several principles underlying the work which we 

 are pursuing. We have to study the nature of an animal before 

 we attempt to arrive at the methods to pursue. When we come 

 to live stock and domestic animals one thinks about the class he 

 likes the best. I remember hearing a discussion one day: One 

 man said he liked a dog best because a dog would adapt himself 

 to the peculiarities of his master; another said a cow, because 

 she supplies the food for the family. Josh Billings was asked his 

 opinion as regards a dog. He stopped and thought a minute 

 and then he said: "If you should take up a poor starving dog, 

 and take him home and treat him well, and start him on the road 

 to prosperity, he would never bite you, but a man would." So 

 in some respects a dog is superior to man. The dairy cow, if 

 she is healthy, is one of the greatest aids to mankind. She comes 

 as near being a member of the family as is possible to be. From 

 the products of that cow, the babes are fed, the older ones are 

 fed to a certain degree; she supplies almost a perfect food. Is 

 it not essential that she should be in a perfect state of health? 

 This question is important; it depends upon the condition of the 

 cow, whether your children will Uve to a good ripe old age. That 

 is what it means; stop and think of your own family. I don't 

 care how much butter fat she has or don't have, if it is pure. 



That leads us again to the question : What diseases may 

 the cow transmit to mankind? ist, Diseases that may be trans- 

 mitted in her products and she not subject to them, as Scarlet 

 Fever, Typhoid Fever, and diseases of the cow that may be 

 transmitted to the human race. Example, Tuberculosis, Anthrax 

 Foot and Mouth diseases and others. This being true it is our 

 duty to be vigilant in the care and in protecting the cow from all 

 evil influences and disease. By doing so we protect our children 

 from disease and death. A cow should have good clean sur- 

 roundings, plenty of pure air, plenty of good clean and nourish- 

 ing food, and above all good pure water to drink. 



I have just returned from a city situated on the banks of a 

 river where Typhoid Fever has been an epidemic. The water 

 supply of the city was and is taken from the river a little above 

 the city. The sewerage of the city empties into the river below 



