ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. i 2 i 



and officers of this Association to spend that $500 in another manner. 

 I will shortly explain. 



I want $2010 of that money to be spent in. paying the expens'es of 

 good dairy speakers to give dairy instruction, and the other ?300 to be 

 offered as prizes to the first test association that is had in Illiniois. 

 Your las't speaker spoke of the importance of knowing the individuality 

 of each cow. We can only find i t out by testing. In this country we 

 have had testing a good) many years. We have had the Babcock test going 

 all right on many farms before ever the Danes heard of the Babcock test. 

 In 1895 the first Danish test association started up. It was simply 13 

 farmers that felt it was too much trouble to test their own cows. They 

 joined, and hired a young man ju st graduated from the agricultural 

 sichooil^ — and he was only too glad to get the experience and to work for 

 .reasonable salary. They hired h im and he would visit the farms, go 

 from farm to farm, and would' return to the same farm once in two weeks 

 and test and weigh each cow's milk and make a memorandum of it. At 

 the end of the year they made a report. On these thirteem farms the 

 cost of producing a pound of but ter varied from 15.01 up to 78.05 cents 

 per pound. That's a stunner. We have had a line of that work here, 

 but not a single far'mer's' test association. I claim that the association 

 in this State in which the first as sociation starts will go into our dairy 

 history with a reputation as bei ng one of the first promoters of a prin- 

 ciple that will raise you higher. 



Now I want this Association to encourage such a test by agreeing to 

 pay $300, provided that the farme rs will agree to keep up the test for five 

 years-; direct a young man how to keep account; help them in any man- 

 ner possible. Let them select a young man to do the testing. The re- 

 port of the test should be publis hed in the annual report of this Asso- 

 ciation. Something like that. I w ill not bother you with details. Anyonei 

 interested in it will find' somfethi ng in our 1898 report. I feel very 

 strongly on that subject. I hop e you will take up this line of education 

 while we wait for the teachers that Prof. Henry has d'escribed' tXD' us. 



