4888 
Yes; by feeding rich food we can increase 
the proportion of cream in the milk. 
With regard to question three, our exper¬ 
ience with other breeds than Holstein- 
Friesians is so limited that we cannot answer 
it intelligently, but it is our opinion that the 
breed to which a cow belongs, as well as her 
age, constitution, disposition, etc., should be 
B " studied in trying to get the best results in 
feeding, but undoubtedly the feeding of but¬ 
ter-producing foods to any cow, no matter 
how poor her milk may be to start with, would 
have a tendency to improve the quality of her 
milk. 
We should be inclined to answer question 
four in the affirmative, though we have had 
uo personal or practical experience in the 
production of cheese. 
The consideration of these questions and 
answers brings to mind the fact that all im¬ 
proved breeds of dairy cattle as they are 
found to day, are the direct results of system¬ 
atic selection, feeding and care, under the 
most favorable conditions lor the production 
of certain results. A knowledge of the early 
history of cows would undoubtedly teach us 
that their supply of milk was not only limited 
ju quantity, but poor in quality. To illus¬ 
trate: the Holstein-Friesian breed of cattle as 
lound in their native country to-day, are the 
result of the care and feed which they have 
had and the climate and other influences in 
which they have lived, and the same is true 
of other strains of full-blood cattle. The rich 
soil of Holland produces a luxuriant gras s 
particularly well adapted to the production 
of large-sized cattle yielding a large flow of 
milk of good quality. The climate is such 
that the cattle are hardy and vigorous, and 
the natural conditions of climate, native 
grass, etc., having been supplemented for 
many generations by an intelligent system of 
feeding, with the end in view to produce not 
only beef cattle but milk which can be profit¬ 
ably used for butter and cheese in the la; ge 
markets accessible to Holland, have resulted in 
giving to the world the breed as they are to¬ 
day. 
On the other hand, no matter how good a 
breed of cattle may be (they may be large, their 
milk may be exceedingly rich and they may 
yield a large quantity of-it), neglect and indif- 
eren ce to their needs will inevitably result in a 
deterioration of their progeny. The difference 
may not be so perceptible in the individuals 
themselves, but the result is sure to be shown 
in the future generations and will be in exact 
accord with the care, food and surroundings, 
which the cattle have had. To illustrate: We 
believe it would be possible, starting with any 
of the strains of cattle which are to day 
acknowledged to be superior as dairy cattle, 
by a proper system of feeding and care, c on- 
tiuued for generations, to produce a type of 
cattle very highly developed as a beef breed. 
On the other hand, proper feed and care ex¬ 
pended on any of the acknowledged beef 
breeds would unquestionably result, after 
many generations, in a very desirable and 
highly developed strain of dairy cattle. It 
is clear that the advantage which full-bloods 
of a particular class have over grades or tull- 
bioods of any other class is that the qualities 
most to be desired have been bred to the high¬ 
est stale in these animals ana are more certain 
to be reproduced in their progeny. Tnerefore, 
in starting a herd it is more profitable to 
select animals alreaay developed in the direc¬ 
tion which we desire rather than to attempt 
to bring up by breeding, feed and care, an 
inferior lot of cattle. 
Syracuse, N.Y. 
FROM PROF. H. P. ARMSBY. 
It is undoubtedly true that the quality of 
the milk is dependent upon the breed of the 
cow, but it is not exclusively dependent upon 
it. Two other potent factors in deierminmg 
the quality of the nnlk are the individuality 
of the cow and the food which she receives. 
Of these, the individuality of the cow is much 
the more important and frequently exerts a 
gi eater influence than enher the breed or the 
feed. Single cows of any breed may produce 
milk either much better or much poorer than 
the average of the breed, and a single cow of 
some one breed may give milk of better qual¬ 
ity than the average of some other breed 
which, as a whole, gives better milk than the 
breed to which the single cow belongs. The 
breed and individuality of the cow, taken 
together, determine her capacity as a milk- 
producing machine, Loth as to quantity and 
quality of the milk. The feed simply fur¬ 
nishes the material to be worked up by the 
machine. Consequently while it is true that 
a poor cow will give poor milk, even upon 
the best of feed, it is not true that a good cow 
will give good milk, no matter what she is 
fed upon. A good cow means simply one 
that has the capacity for producing large 
amounts of milk and butter from her feed, it 
does not mean a cow that can make some¬ 
thing out of nothii.g. Plainly, then, while 
THE RURAL 
the feeding of food rich in butter-making ma¬ 
terials to po< r cows is a very unprofitable 
businefs.it is equally unprofitable to keep 
good dairy cows and not supply them with 
abundance of material from which to produce 
milk. Coming now to a more direct answer 
to your questions, I should say: 
1. The quality of milk which a cow can 
produce depends upon her breed and individ¬ 
uality, and in this sense, the quality of the 
milk is more dependent upon breed than upon 
feed. On the other hand, the quality of milk 
which any given cow will produce, is very 
largely dependent upon her feed. 
2. By feeding rich foods, the proportion of 
butter-fat in milk can be increased. The 
bulk of cream obtained is dependent upon so 
many other circumstances than feeding that it 
affords no safe guide as to the real effects of 
the latter. 
3. The standard rations given for the feeding 
of dairy cows, presuppose that the animals are 
good of their kind. On the other hand, the 
standards are not sufficiently exact to admit 
of modification for each particular breed of 
cows. The feeding standards are intended 
simply as guides to rational feeding to be 
modified in each particular case, as experience 
may show to be necessary. 
4. In only two experiments has the ratio of 
butter fat to caseine been observed to change 
as a result of feeding. Whether that ratio 
could be changed by systematic feeding con¬ 
tinued through two or three seasons, I have, 
at present, uo means of deciding, as the ex¬ 
periment has never been made, so far as I 
know. 
Center Co., Pa. 
FROM T. D. CURTIS. 
1. The answer to this question depends upon 
circumstances. It may be on either. It 
depends on both. There are cows that natur¬ 
ally give good milk and those that naturally 
give poor milk. The good cow wdl give good 
milk on quite poor feed, but in diminished 
quantity and reduced quality. The poor cow 
will give better nnlk on good feed than she 
will on poor, and in increased quantity, but 
will always give a small mess of comparatively 
inferior quality. Cows have their natural 
characteristics or ldiosyucracies. I have seen 
cows that always gave bitter milk under all 
circumstances and conditions and with all 
kinds of feed. So some naturally give com¬ 
paratively poor milk at all times, while some 
always naturally give comparatively good 
milk, for we can speak ODly by comparison- 
Some cows, also, give small messes, while 
others give large. Both the per cent, of fat 
and the per cent, of solids may vary in the 
milk of the same cow while kept under the 
same conditions, as far as human judgment 
can determine. So, also, as to quantity, 
recent experiments have indisputably shown 
this. But the average quantity and the 
average quality of the milk of both the good 
and the poor cow are affected by the quantity 
and the quality of the food, and by all the 
surroundings and accompanying conditions 
The vital chemistry and physiology of every 
cow are beyond our accurate investigation. 
Hence questions depending on these—such as 
the digestibility and w holesomeness of foods— 
can be determined only by the facts resulting 
from properly conducted experiments. But 
under all conditions the good dairy cow gives 
quicker and more generous response to good 
care and keep, and pays a greater profit, while 
a poor cow may pay no profit at all, or even 
be kept at a loss, no matter how well she is 
treated. These are the cows which the dairy¬ 
man needs to find out and get rid of. 
2. Foods rich in what ? Foods are more or 
less concentrated, and may be rated rich or 
poor in accordance with their condition, on 
which depends their digestibility and the 
availability of their nutritive elements. The 
foods that contain the necessary elements in 
proper proportion and bulk, will produce the 
most and the best nnlk. Any variation from 
these proportions affects both the quantity 
and quality of the milk. If the food is too 
concentrated or too bulky, both the yield and 
quality of the milk will be reduced. The 
problem for the dairyman to solve is, to get 
the nitrogenous and carbonaceous elements of 
nutrition in the right proportion—the right 
quantity and the right condition. Then he 
will secure the largest flow of the richest 
milk. The proportion of cream will not be 
materially varied, but the quantity will be 
increased with the increase in the quantity of 
milk. This is the only way by which the 
cream in the milk of either a good or a poor 
cow can be increased. I have in mind the 
case of a cow that a foolish neighbor, on a bet, 
kept several weeks on an insufficient quantity 
of very poor hay. There was too much bulk¬ 
iness, too little nutriment, and it was badly- 
proportioned. The result was that the cow 
nearly starved to death, her milk was as white 
as chalk, contained but little more cream than 
chalk-water would, and the flow was much 
reduced. A change of food greatly improved 
the cow, increased the milk, and enriched its 
quality; but the cow never fully recovered 
her normal condition and yield of milk. This 
was an extreme case. 
3. The breed would be of little or no conse¬ 
quence; but individual characteristics would. 
Size and capacity to digest and appropriate 
food would make a great variation. The man¬ 
ner of appropriation would have its bearing. 
Above the amount required for support— 
which varies with different cows—one will 
turu it into beef, another into milk, and a 
third may use it up in activity. Hence the 
ration mu.-t vary for each individual, and for 
the purpose aimed at. Dairymen must study 
the individual needs of their cows and feed 
each accordingly, if they would obtain the 
best possible results. There is no such thing 
as a “standard,” and never can be, until all 
cows are exactly alike and are all given the 
same environment—a thing impossible. We 
speak of the “German standards,” but it is a 
misnomer. They are only approximations, 
showing us what elements are needed and in 
about what proportions. But many Ameri¬ 
can experimenters have found the German 
approximations not very close. One finds the 
rations too large and another too small, ac¬ 
cording to conditions, the character of his ani¬ 
mals, and the digestibility of his foods. Still, 
the German and American feed tables are 
both of great value as guides, but they cannot 
be profitably followed with mathematical ac¬ 
curacy in feeding any breed or class of cows 
or other animals. There must be an exercise 
of human observation and judgment. Feed¬ 
ing cannot be reduced to a mechanical opera¬ 
tion. Both the character of the foods and the 
character of the individual animal must be 
taken into consideration. 
4. All scientific efforts to increase the pro¬ 
portion of butter fats over the caseine in milk, 
by feeding, have been unsuccessful. The pro¬ 
portions do vary; but so far as has been as¬ 
certained, the variations are due to some other 
cause than the food eaten. Variations of 
temperature probably have much to do with 
it. If so, there ought to be a larger propor¬ 
tion of butter fats on warm fair days than on 
cold rainy ones. Feeding foods rich in fat 
does not increase the proportion of cream. 
The digestive process demands a proper bal¬ 
ance of the nitrogenous and carbonaceous 
elements. The latter are heat-formers, and do 
not go to make milk or muscle, but the nitro 
genous elements are sometimes used for the 
production of hest. The amount of cream 
may, therefore, be increased by proper feed¬ 
ing, but the proportion to the other solids is 
not affected by the food, so far as known. 
The proportion of solids to water is easily 
varied by feeding. Succulent food makes 
watery milk and vice versa. 
The science of feeding is one of the utmost 
importance to the dairyman, but is as yet but 
little understood. 
FROM L. S. HARDIN. 
ftsr replying to these questions it must be un¬ 
derstood that cast-iron rules do not always 
work with mathematical precision in the 
dairy. In such work there are three principal 
factors—the cow, the feed and the man--and 
the greatest of these is the man; that is, or¬ 
dinary cows handled by a good manager will 
produce better than the best cows in the hands 
of a poor manager. In considering these 
questions, I will presuppose each factor is the 
best of its kind. 
1. If by “quality” is here meant richness of 
milk, it certainly does depend primarily up¬ 
on the breed, that is, if cows of various breeds 
are given the same ration they will produce 
milk of relative richness after their kind, a 
fact that has been accepted for more than 100 
years. A denial of this fact would oppose all 
the principles of breeding and render absolute¬ 
ly useless every effort to fix special 
characteristics in our domestic animals. Some 
breeders I know are trying to pull down the 
structure on their own heads by claiming too 
much for their favorites. 
2. There is no doubt about this; for it is 
the common practice on all dairy farms to 
give what is considered rich food to produce 
rich milk. That this is often done with want 
of intelligent discretion and with meager re¬ 
sults, is equally true. That men often con¬ 
found fat-producing foods with rations that 
are adapted to cream-production, is equally 
true. 
3. This touches the vital point in progres¬ 
sive dairying. It also brings us back to the 
first proposition, that successful dairying de¬ 
pends more on the man than it does on the 
cow or the food. When we hear of a man 
producing phenominal butter records from 
cows that belong to breeds that are poorly 
adapted to .the purpose, we remark : What a 
waste of effort! If that man had confined his 
exertions to the proper breeds he would cer¬ 
tainly have immortalized himself. In order to 
get the full valuebf a well-selected ration, the 
dairyman must not merely be familiar with 
the breed of cattle he is handling, but he must 
know by heart all the special characteristics 
of the animals under his charge. Even in the 
closest-bred of the fancy breeds there are re¬ 
markable variations. A cow’s nature is more 
intricate than that of any other domestic ani¬ 
mal. From day to day, as she passes from 
parturition, her milk becomes richer and 
richer, subject all the time to radical changes 
of short or long duration caused by the 
weather, by fright, by indigestion and a dozen 
other things that no man.can find out. Then 
there are cows k tbat are nervous; others that 
are stubborn, timid, quarrelsome, or often in 
heat. Indeed, it is marvelous how many 
whims and affections they have. All these 
things must be studied in each herd before a 
full knowledge of how to feed the different 
members of it will come to any man. Stan¬ 
dard rations do very well in the majority of 
cases, producing a good average result; but 
the man who expects to excel in handling his 
herd must go beyond the standard ration and 
learn to feed a special ration for special pur¬ 
poses. This is the reason why we find all the 
famous feeders varying the compositions of 
their favorite rations. In fact, it is hard to 
find two of them that will agree in all partic¬ 
ulars, and the chances are that should they 
tra>.e herds and surroundings a short experi¬ 
ence would find them adopting each other’s 
rations and abandoning their former favor¬ 
ites. 
While the conservative writer must admit 
that the quality of milk can be changed for 
good or bad by specific rations, yet it must be 
remembered that nature in protecting the 
ht alth of the calf has made it a rule that this 
change must take place with great delibera¬ 
tion and a very little at a time. Some strong 
foods, as pea and oil-meal, may act as stimu¬ 
lants and give a temporary change that is 
very marked, yet such radical changes in the 
ration are always attended with much risk 
and the effects are generally only temporary 
and the cow often resists their influence to 
the extent of throwing it off all together after 
a few days of apparent rapid improvement in 
the richness of the milk. This fact has often 
been illustrated in an amusing manner where 
gentlemen owning high-priced cattle have em¬ 
ployed skilled feeders for the purpose of test¬ 
ing their cows. Where the new and rich ra¬ 
tions are first fed the cows respond with such 
alacrity that the official tester is sent for post¬ 
haste, but scarcely has he arrived when it is 
found that the cow is “off” and so is the test. 
Nature has rebelled and the stimulant has re¬ 
acted. It is far better to make haste slowly 
and build the herd up step by step, adding to 
and altering the ration by slow degrees, 
watchiDg its effect upon each individual of 
the herd not only in the milk pail but in the 
droppings, to see that there is not too much 
waste and if a perceptible improvement is 
made the first year, the experimenter should 
be satisfied, for he may confidently look for 
increased improvement each year if his work 
is systematically carried out. That is the on¬ 
ly method in which permanent improvement 
can be obtained. 
4. There has been considerable controversy 
over this point, and thus far the burden of 
proof is on the part taking the affirmative of 
the proposition. At the same time it is not 
against all evidences of breeding to claim that 
such a change cannot be made. In any indi¬ 
vidual case the change may be so slight that 
the finest analj sis may fail to discover a trace 
of it, and yet, to say that correct feeding can¬ 
not alter the ratio of ffiutter fat to caseine, 
would in my opinion be a reckless assertion. 
It may be that we have not yet found the 
method for accomplishing it; but that it can 
be done is proven by the fact that it has been 
done, though it took long years to build up as 
butter cows those cows that had a preponder¬ 
ance of caseine to the ratio of butter in their 
milk. It is true we do not know just how 
these cows were made, but that is only saying 
that our knowledge on the subject is limited. 
At present it is pretty safe to say that no 
known method of feeding will create a radi¬ 
cal change in the ratio of caseine to butter in 
the milk : certainly not to any marked de 
gree within the life of a single cow. 
%\)uy xtBliftn'Dri). 
THE CUR PEST. 
Losses due to the pests; constant folly and 
frequent meanness of dog-owner's; a 
dangerous but effectual way of thinning 
the nuisances; need of higher taxation on 
them; a sensible u coon .” 
Two of the leading sheep breeders in this 
section have just sold our and given up the 
