1 
THE JERSEYS BREED UP THE FARMER 
COLLECTING A BOUNTY ON BEAUTY. 
I well remember how I beard 13 years ago that a 
man living 10 miles from me had a bull of a new 
breed. I could not feel satisfied until I went to see 
him. I had no taste for the over-fat or long-horned 
bulls usually seen at the fairs, and had never seen a 
Jersey. I was pleased enough when my friend showed 
me a large, French gray and black, finely formed 
bull, with small, neat, incurved horns, golden at the 
base. The first glance caused me to start in surprise. 
“ A beauty,” said I. It was raining, and we sat down 
by the side of the stall and talked about the breed. 
That sense of satisfaction which one feels when his 
love for the beautiful is being gratified, gradually 
stole over me. I can shut my eyes and see that bull 
to-day. His beauty created in me a love for the Jer¬ 
sey which I 
have never lost. 
How insignifi¬ 
cant my scrub 
stock looked 
when I reached 
home I I never 
had cared 
enough about 
them to more 
than notice how 
they did look 
before. After 
seeing that 
beautiful Jer- 
6ey,the spotted, 
speckled, odds 
and ends that 
made up my 
dairy, were a 
positive source 
of annoyance to 
me. “ l' will 
have some fine 
cows if I live I ” 
was my thought 
then ; second 
sober thought 
brought the 
question : “Are 
these Jerseys as 
good as theiy 
look ? ” A poor, 
young farmer 
struggling with 
debt cannot 
gratify desire 
at once; but 
after a year of 
patient saving 
of the little items which would have been scattered, I 
had enough to buy a registered bull. The barns were 
poor; as I looked for a suitable place to house my 
bull, they seemed poorer than ever. “Probably,” 
thought I, “ a bull like that has never been exposed 
to the wind, blowing through the cracks; he may get 
cold and die.” Some battens were bought and put on 
the cracks. The neighbors began asking if the bull 
had come. “ We want to see him ! ” I suddenly dis¬ 
covered that things needed picking up around the 
yard and barn. Visitors might not think much of my 
“beauty of a bull” if they had to wade through a 
foot of mud and manure to get to him; or, if led out, 
he might step on a stick and be hurt. Blooded stock 
creates a desire for better buildings. When you have 
stock which attracts visitors and wins tbeir praise, the 
boys will take extra pains to keep things slick. This 
is a lesson too many farmers have never learned. 
Well do I remember the first sight of my first grade 
Jersey calf. Opening the door of the stall one morn¬ 
ing, I found a solid colored, lemon fawn, handsome 
calf. I called my wife, and together we rejoiced over 
the beautiful heifer. Said she : “ We must take extra 
care of this calf ; it is so nice.” We fed new milk to 
the veals because we could not sell them without it; 
but I did not suppose I could afford that extravagance 
for a heifer that was to be “ raised.” The neighbors 
were making fun of my purchase. “This calf must 
not be a runt,” I said ; “ it shall have extra feed if I 
have to cheat the firkin.” A desire to see them look¬ 
ing well, created in me a desire to know more about 
the laws of feeding and the effect of food. I studied 
many hours. In the fall when I was offered $30 for 
the calf, my ideas in regard to the profits of better 
feeding received a decided jog. The results obtained 
by putting this study into practice are nrt the least of 
my profits. When the grade heifers began to furnish 
A Quartette of Jersey Beauties. Fig. 131. 
milk for the dairy, we were astonished to see the 
difference in the amount of butter. If heifers could 
do as well as that, beating the older mature scrubs, 
they must be immense when they get older. 
Said a neighbor, “Of course they eat more if they 
make more butter.” Careful watching proved that 
they ate less. This was a wonder to all, and the 
difference in animals began to be considered. The 
feed and butter were weighed, and experiments tried. 
A desire was created to see how much could be ob¬ 
tained, and the great possibilities in regard to yields 
were suggested. The mission of the Jersey is to create 
a desire for improvement, and to improve the scrub 
farmer as well as the scrub cow. 
With my Babcock tester, I tested the dairies of two 
brothers. E’s natives tested three, while F’s Jerseys 
tested six per cent of butter fat. Said E, “I knew I 
got more milk than F did, and less butter. I thought 
of changing my churn, but I guess I would better 
change my cows.” My father was “down” on Jer¬ 
seys ; “ Don’t give milk enough,” was his cry. He ac¬ 
cepted reluctantly some heifer calves. When they 
came in milk, I made a visit with my tester. The old 
“ fill-pails ” were knocked out, and the whole dairy 
will soon be composed of cows that give wealth in¬ 
stead of water. In every mixed dairy I have tested, 
the Jerseys, both grade and purebred, have averaged 
the highest per cent of fat, and examples of seven 
and even ten per cent milk have created a respect for 
quality, which will bear fruit. Butter in the milk is 
not seen ; but quantity and color in the glass cannot 
be denied. “ When we were showing our goods at 
the fair,” said the superintendent, “ we boarded our¬ 
selves in a tent. One of the men brought a jar of 
butter, which came on the table, those awfully hot 
days, harder than my own does, at home, from the 
refrigerator, and I asked him how he kept it hard. 
The reply was: 
‘ It’s Jersey 
butter.’ ‘Now, 
if Jersey butter 
is like that, I 
will have it; 
name your 
price for a 
year’s supply.’” 
Not one farmer 
in a hundred 
knows or com¬ 
prehends, ex¬ 
cepting in a 
dreamy, far-off, 
“not-for-him’' 
kind of a way, 
that a cow can 
be sold for $200. 
When I sold a 
yearling for 
$100, none of 
them believed 
the “yarn” un¬ 
til they saw the 
check. “I 
never would 
have believed 
you could have 
done it,” was 
the comment of 
a friend. The 
Jerseys create 
new ideas in 
regard to the 
value that can 
be obtained 
by a wise com- 
binationof 
breed, feed, 
science and skill. The keeping of purebred stock has 
a tendency to make a man feel more like a thorough¬ 
bred himself. c. e. chapman. 
“The Jersey Maidens.” — The beautiful heifers 
that are shown in the picture on this page, belong to 
Hon. O. J. Bailey, of Peoria, Ill. They are Baisy’s 
May 72934, Lily’s March Rose 2nd 72350, Baisy's Favor 
87707, and Baisy’s Tasso 87708 These heifers are very 
well bred, with a predominance of Coomassie-Welcome 
blood, which Mr. Bailey believes is equal to the best. 
These beautiful heifers well point the moral in Mr. 
Chapman’s article. Who could help having a keener 
enjoyment and higher ideal of the beautiful with 
such animals about him? That would be a foolish 
man who claimed that such cultivation of the higher 
senses would not benefit him. We would like to put 
such a quartette on every farm in the country, and 
watch the effect of their music. 
