FORTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONVENTION 63 



farmer and his family are contented and happy. The picture 

 is somewhat different than that of most of the non-dairy farm- 

 ers. They have fences that need repair, lawns unmowed and 

 iinkept, barns that are not desirable to house stock because of 

 poor ventilation or sometimes too much. Inside the home yon 

 do not find a library, agricultural papers or magazines. Some 

 of these homes appear like camping places and give one the 

 impression that the owners do not intend staying there very 

 long. The children are generally attracted by the white lights 

 of the city and because of these existing conditions leave the 

 farm. The Department of Agriculture at Washington, the 

 State Experiment Stations and the Agricultural Colleges are 

 giving to the people of this nation information relating to the 

 economical production of food stuffs. You are supporting 

 these institutions through your taxes, directly and indirectly. 

 These institutions are doing noble work, but you can assist 

 them in accomplishing their purpose by becoming more interest- 

 ed in the business of the farmer in your community. 



According to the last census report, Illinois has over i,ooo,- 

 Goo dairy cows. An increase of 50 pounds of butter fat per 

 year per cow, will give the state over $14,000,000.00, or approx- 

 imately $140,000.00 per county. This large sum of money 

 which represents a cash business, will increase the farmers' piir- 

 chasing power and thus develop business in the entire communi- 



ty. 



Since the average farmer cannot pay the high price for 

 good pure bred dairy cows, he must use his grade cows and im- 

 prove their offspring by the use of good pure bred dairy sire. 

 High class pure bred sires are not cheap in price, but you can 

 help your neighbors to co-operate and buy several pure bred 

 dairy sires for their joint use. One bull can be used to fifty 

 cows. The districts can be numbered and the bulls can like- 

 wise be numbered, i, 2, 3, 4, 5, as the case may be. After bull 

 No. I is used two years in one section, he can be transferred to 

 section No. 2 ; bull No. 2 to section No. 3 ; bull No. 3 to section 

 No. 4, and so forth. These bulls must not be closely related to 

 each other, because we want to prevent inbreeding. With the 



