FORTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONVENTION 55 



land and we think we have about the hardest proposition for 

 farming of any part of the country, yet we have got one county 

 in Vermont growing 800 acres of alfalfa. Now, if that can be 

 done there, and we are doing it, you can do it here. I believe in 

 alfalfa and so thoroughly that I would work with it. We talk so 

 much about alfalfa that we scare you from trying it but it is not 

 a hard proposition. Try it, work with it, you will soon get the 

 right kind. You can grow clover if you will drain and lime your 

 land. The dairy cow has got to have those things if you are go- 

 ing to get milk. Those are our best sources of protein. You 

 have also cow-peas and leguminous crops with which I am not 

 quite so familiar. If you cannot get protein that way, you have 

 to go to the market supply in the form of cottonseed meal and 

 other meals. 



Then coming to carbohydrates, I will say the same thing 

 to you: grow them on the farm in the form of corn, barley, oats 

 — no better food for man or beast. You have in addition to that 

 the carbohydrates in your hays. I would not attempt to enum- 

 erate them all, Timothy hay. Red top Mixed grass hay; Herd's 

 grass is a nice hay to make, nice to farm with. But we are apt 

 to let it stand until it is too ripe. We grow Timothy hay, feed 

 it to the cow, and charge it to the cow at $25 a ton and then 

 wonder why they do not make you a profit in our dairy, and we 

 might just as well offer her wheat straw. Timothy hay is not a 

 feed with which to make milk. While your mixed grass hays 

 appear to be good feeds from analysis, and while you do add 

 carbohydrates in corn stalks, don't expect your cow to give much 

 milk on Timothy hay and corn stalks. Play square with the 

 cow. Give her a chance. Grow clover and alfalfa, that is the 

 only way to do, and supply carhodrates in a palatable, varied 

 digestible form. 



Of course, in addition to that we have this thing to face all 

 the time, viz. : that your carbohydrates — corn, wheat, oats, bar- 

 ley, are more and more in demand to feed the human family 

 and consequently you must more and more draw upon the by- 

 products of the cereal industry for stock feeding. 



Make as a basis of your ration, clover, alfalfa and silage. 

 Always bear in mind palatability, variety and balance. 



