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The British Dairy Farmers' Association. 



science to the dairying industry, and his results in this direction 

 have been considerable in developing the industry on the right 

 lines. 



Research. — The first efforts in dairy research undertaken by 

 the Association were a series of experiments on the feeding of 

 dairy cows, carried out on Lord Vernon's dairy herd in 1886. 

 Three lots of cows, as nearly similar in all respects as possible, 

 were selected, and it was found that the lot receiving 21 lb. per 

 head per day of properly proportioned dry matter gave as good 

 results as other cattle receiving respectively 29 lb. and 341b. per 

 head per day. The experiments thus proved that the system of 

 feeding then in vogue was costly and wasteful, and that an excess 

 of food over and above what the animals can assimilate is wasted. 

 Their influence was very great at the time, and has affected 

 the feeding of dairy stock in this country ever since. 



Some of the most valuable research work carried out by the 

 Association has been in the domain of veterinary and bacterio- 

 logical science. The diseases of cattle had, as already mentioned, 

 attracted the attention of the original founders of the Associa- 

 tion. Abortion was of widespread prevalence in 1879-80, and 

 Professor J. Wortley Axe. of the Royal Veterinary College, 

 investigated the matter at the request of the Association. In 

 1887 it was assumed that scarlatina was produced by milk from 

 Hendon owing to an eruption on the teats of cows. An out- 

 break of diphtheria occurred at Framley, and was also attributed 

 to milk. Into these and other outbreaks Professor Axe made, 

 on behalf of the Association, careful and elaborate investigations. 

 That the scarlatina came from cows was disproved, while the 

 source of the diphtheria was traced to contaminated water with 

 which the milk vessels were washed, and thus the disease con- 

 veyed from man to man. 



Tuberculosis in cattle and its possible relation to the same 

 disease in man, has been from 1887 a subject of growing 

 importance. The view of the medical profession was that this 

 disease was probably due to milk. This raised the question as 

 to the prevalence of this disease in cows and of the bacilli in 

 milk. Professor Axe made a careful investigation into the 

 matter, and his results were published in the Association's 

 Journal for 1899 (Vol. 14). They showed that the prevalence 

 of tuberculosis in cows, and especially of the bacilli in milk, h*- 1 

 been greatly exaggerated. 



The medical profession also asserted that milk frequently con- 

 tained pus, and was not fit for human consumption. The Associa- 



