THIRTY-SIXTH ANNUAL CONVENTION. 355 



CONSERVATION OF ENERGY AND ITS RELATION TO THE 



DAIRYMAN. 



By 

 Wilber J. Fraser, Chief in Dairy Husbandry, University of Illinois. 



One of the biggest national problems which is receiving 

 attention today, is the conservation of our natural resources. No 

 one doubts the importance or timeliness of this great question. 

 But a still larger problem for us to consider is the saving of 

 human energy, for there is much waste of human lives in weary, 

 unprofitable toil. To many a dairyman this conservation means 

 that he could increase his profits tenfold, as others have done, 

 without running down the land or robbing some other farm, by 

 simply putting intelligence into his business, and thus win for 

 himself and family the opportunity for greater comfort, develop- 

 ment and useful service to humanity. 



The following modified quotation is in point: 

 Strangely enough, farming, the first of all industries, has 

 been the last to break away from dull plodding and blind drudg- 

 ery, and to share in the benefits of intelligent understanding. 

 Until the present generation, the farmer has never known what 

 he was doing, nor why he did it. How bitter has been the 

 tragedy of this long groping in the dark by the man who has not 

 only eaten his own bread, but fed the world by the sweat of his 

 over-burdened body. To the unthinking, life is but endless toil 

 and drudgery, while pleasure and inspiration come to the man 

 who understands his work. 



Pitiful Picture of Wasted Energy. 



What a picture is the following, taken from a recent letter 

 written by a well known resident of Northern Illinois : "Within 

 a radius of ten miles from my door there are at least 300,000,000 

 pounds of milk produced each year (an average of ten 8-gallon 



