RURAL NEW-YORKER 1397 
A Herd That Averaged 312 Pounds of 
Bufterfat for Eleven Tfears 
How Charles Foss made his Dairy Farm one of the Most Famous in the Country 
fHIS is the story 
ofaformerschool 
teacher who 
made good at 
dairying. From 
one of the poor¬ 
est herds in Illi¬ 
nois he has built 
uponeofthebest. 
Foss was a farm 
lad in Stephenson County, went away 
to a little academy in Dixon, and for a 
while taught school in his home county. 
Then he went back to the farm, and 
made dairying his chief line. During the 
first year, as near as he could figure up, 
his cows produced about I 35 pounds 
of butterfat each. For the first four 
years, despite the fact that he sold off 
the poorest cows, as nearly as he could 
tell them, the average production was 
__ 1 67 pounds of 
butterfat. 
Foss used the best 
methods he knew. But 
he wasn’t getting ahead 
as he thought he should. 
One day he decided 
that the old slipshod 
methods would never 
make him a successful 
dairy farmer. He had 
lea.'ned that the only 
way to tell exactly what 
each cow was doing, 
without guessing or es¬ 
timating, was to weigh 
the milk and test for 
butterfat. He began to 
put this, and a few 
other ideas of successful 
dairymen, into practice. 
At the end of a year 
Foss found that his cows 
averaged 224 pounds 
of butterfat. Two years 
later his herd averaged 
307 pounds of butterfat 
per year. Since then, 
over an eleven year 
stretch, his cows have 
averaged 312 pounds of 
butterfat. Milk produc¬ 
tion averaged 8000 to 
9200 lbs. per cow. One 
of Foss’ cows went as 
high as 11,118 lbs. of 
milk and 380 pounds of 
butterfat per year in a 
Do You Know 
How much alfalfa you 
should sow per acre? 
How much more than 
pasturing corn en¬ 
silage is worth? 
If you failed to secure a 
stand of clover, do you 
know the probable 
reason? 
Which breed of hens 
gives the greatest 
number of eggs when 
prices are highest? 
Wilt a change in feeding 
increase the butter-fat 
or only the milk-flow? 
How the farmer’s wife 
can cut out half the 
stooping in her work? 
What are the 20 points 
of a good dairy cow? 
What are the 12 points 
of a good bull? 
Do you know when it is 
safe to use tankage 
for hog feeding? 
Do you know how to take 
a horse’s pulse? 
Do you know how to 
treat a horse for ring 
bone, spavin, or lame¬ 
ness? 
Do you know what to do 
in case of barrenness 
in sows? 
Do you know what mar¬ 
keting features to con¬ 
sider before you plant? 
Do you know the most 
important Federal and 
State laws affecting 
the farm? 
These are, of course, 
only a few of the thou¬ 
sands of questions an¬ 
swered in FARM 
KNOWLEDGE. A com¬ 
plete list would cover 
many pages. You must 
see the Four Volumes, 
2000 pages, in order to 
realize fully the help 
they will give you. 
two year test; another averaged 11,199 {soundt: 
of milk and 397 pounds of butterfat per year, 
on a four year test. 
Applying Others Experience 
It is interesting to note that during the first fouii' 
years Mr. Foss accomplished comparatively little. 
It was only after he began to apply the experi¬ 
ence of others that his profits increased so rapidly. 
What Foss has accomplished is typical of whaj 
can be done by scudying and adopting the me¬ 
thods that have made good for others. In what¬ 
ever branch of agriculture you are interested, 
you, too, can profitably follow the lead of those 
who have been most successful. There is no 
reason why you should pay, in money and time 
to learn what someone else has found out. There 
is no reason why you need make costly mistakes 
which others have paid for. Take advantage of 
the methods, the plans, the suggestions which 
have been proved the most successful. 
Now Available to All 
But you ask, "How can I find out what the 
country’s most successful farmers are doing."— 
"How can I get this informatiop without going 
to great expense, without taking a prohibitive 
amount of time?" That is the question Sears, 
Roebuck and Co. has answered for the farmers 
of America. At an expense of over $50,000 
for the editorial material alone, the successful 
farming experiences of recognized authorities in 
all parts of the country have been collected and 
placed within the covers of FARM KNOWL¬ 
EDGE. Never before has a work of this 
scope and value been produced. There is noth¬ 
ing else like it It is the most complete and the 
most practical work ever prepared for the farm¬ 
er. It helps to eliminate the costly personal 
expererimenting. It is a clearing house of answers 
to the problems you must solve every year. In¬ 
stead of improving your methods through the 
experiences of your neighbors a little at a time 
you can improve your methods and increase your 
profits through the experiences of the most suc¬ 
cessful farmers in the country, in a fraction of 
the time. 
Suppose Hugh G. Van Pelt, the eminent 
dairy authority came to your farm for a week 
and told you what he knows about breeding and 
selecting cows—suppose F. C. Minkler, Live 
Stock Commissioner of New Jersey and one of 
the great national authorities on cattle and swine 
feeding, spent a month on your place showing 
you what methods have brought the greatest 
success to him and to others—suppose Dr. A. 
S. Alexander, the most prominent Veterinarian 
in the country, was right on your place when 
there was danger of your losing a horse, a hog, or 
a cow and told you what to do to save it—sup¬ 
pose a super-farmer or a recognized authority on 
corn, wheat, oats, poultry; in fact, every branch of 
farming, could be with you tvhenyou needed their 
help most —couldn’t you materially increase your 
production and profits? W ell, that is what FARM 
Two of Mr. Fosa’ big producers. Photograph used by permission of Prairie Farmer 
KNOWLEDGE means to you. It contains the 
best thoughts, the best methods, the most practical 
plans of over 100 men who have made good in 
a big Way. 
Simple and Practical 
Above all, FARM KNOWLEDGE is prac/t- 
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idle treatise on “why you should farm better;’’ it 
is not technical; it is not made up of extracts; it 
does not present plans and methods which are out 
of reach of the average farmer. Instead FARM 
KNOWLEDGE contains the results of actual ex¬ 
perience in improving methods and increasing 
profits; was specially written in interesting and 
easy-to-understand language. It is up-to-the-minute 
in every way, yet it upholds every old-time method 
that has proved its merit; it was written for farm¬ 
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Glance at the partial list of contributors, and the 
partial list of contents, and see how ably this work 
must meet your needs. 
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ffl RN KNOWLEPCE 
A complete manual of successful farming; written by recognized authorities in all parts of the country; 
based on sound principles and the actual experience of real farmers—The Farmer’s own Encyclopedia 
Published for and Distributed by 
Seats. Roebuck and. Co., Chicago 
Partial List of Contents 
VOLUME I. 
Common sense care of the Work Horse, 
Practical Horse Breeding, Breaking, 
Training and Feeding. Breeds and'Types. 
Care of the Dairy Herd. Care of the 
Beef Herd. Dual Purpose Cattle. Breeds 
and Tsmes. Sheep and Goats and their 
care. How to Raise Hogs. Breeds and 
Types of Hogs. Pet Stock. Care of 
Poultry and Birds. Commercial Poultry 
Raising, Turkeys, Ducks, Geese. Pigeons 
and Squabs and how to raise them. Com¬ 
mon diseases of Farm Animals and How 
to Treat Them. Drugs and Doses for 
Farm Use. Home Treatment of Injuries. 
Operations the Farmer can Perform. In¬ 
sect Pests and how to fight them. Milk, 
Butter and Cheese. Commercial Dairy- 
ing. Wool, Mohair and other Farm 
fleeces.Curing and Marketing Wild Pelts, 
Hides, Tanning and Home Made Leath¬ 
er. Bee Keeping and Honey Making. 
VOLUME 2. 
Soils, Types and Classes on the Farm. 
Tillage. Improving Soils by Drainage— 
by Irrigation. Dry Farming. The Use of 
Explosives. The Effect on the Soil of 
Fertilizers. Lime. Systems of Farming 
in Every Section of the Country. How 
to Grow Crops. General Farming, Truck 
Growing. Intensive Vegetable Garden¬ 
ing. Fruit Growing. The Nursery Bus¬ 
iness. The Culture of Field Crops. 
Forest Products. Flowers and Plante. 
How to Better Your Yields from Year to 
Year. Plant Enemies and how to Figlit 
Them. Plant Diseases and their Cures. 
VOLUME 3. 
Horse-drawnWork Outfits. Horse-drawn 
Pleasure Vehicles. Harness, its Use and 
Care. Motor cycles and Light Automo¬ 
biles. The Auto-Truck on the Farm. 
The Farm Tractor. Machinery and tools 
for Tilling. Machines for Changing 
Crops. Dairy Machinery. Machines used 
on Live Stock. Gasoline and Kerosene 
Engines. Electricity. Machines Run by 
Power. Care and Housing of Machinery. 
Measuring and Mapping Land. Practical 
Land Drainage. Irrigation Engineering. 
Road Building and Care. Concrete on 
the Farm. Carpentering, Plumbing and 
Blacksmithing on the Farm. Dams, 
Paddocks, Walls, Fences. The Farm 
House. Construction and Arrangement. 
Fittings and Conveniences. Barns, their 
Materials and Construction. Specialjur- 
pose Barns. Poultry Buildings. Farm 
Building Equipment. Storage and Work 
Buildings. Ice and Cold Storage Houses. 
The Silo. 
VOLUME i. 
System in Farming. Farm Records and 
Accounts. The Farmer and His Money. 
Successful Marketing Methods. Owner, 
Tenant and Employee. Co-operation in 
Farming. The Farmer and the Law. Big 
Business in the Farm Commuqjty. The 
Neighborhood as a Business Asset. Mak¬ 
ing the Farm House a Home. Work and 
Play in the Community. The Farm 
Woman, her Work and Play. Boys and 
Girls on the Farm. Modern Agricultural 
Education and its Cash Value. The 
Science of Farming in Simple 'Terms. 
Farming Facte and Opportunities. Ta¬ 
bles, Figures and Maps for each State 
showing extent and development of 
Farming Opportunities, importance of 
Different crops, general price of farm 
land, number and kind of farms, etc., 
about two pages to each State. Com¬ 
plete Index of the 4 Volumes. 
as we feel confident you will be, you can pay the 
balance on terms of only $2 a month, an average 
of less than seven cents a day. Our guarantee is 
your assurance of satisfaction or your money back. 
There are thousands of plans, methods, ideas 
and suggestions in the 2000 pages of FARM 
KNOWLEDGE. Every page will tell you 
something you will be glad to know about: 
Crops, Soils, Marketing, Live Stock, Poultry, or 
the Home. You owe it to 
yourself—to your family 
—at least to investigate. 
The four volumes of 
FARM KNOWL¬ 
EDGE are now on the 
press and will be ready 
shortly. Only a limited 
number of sets will be 
printed in the first com¬ 
plete edition and we can 
promise early shipment 
only on orders which are 
mailed during the next 15 
days. We suggest, there¬ 
fore, thatyou writeus now. 
FARM KNOWL¬ 
EDGE contains nearly 
2000 pages in all, 16 
full page photographic 
plates, and over 3000 
other illustrations scattered 
throughout. Each volume 
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colors. The volumes are 
9^ inches high by 
inches wide and each book 
is nearly 2 inches thick. 
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KNOWLEDGE may 
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today. 
Sears, Roebuck and 
Company, Chicago. 
A Few of the 100 
Great Authorities 
C. F. Curtiss, one of 
the biggest live stock 
men in the countrj; and 
probably the best judge 
of heavy horses in Amer¬ 
ica. 
W. S. CoRSA, owner of 
“Carnot,” one of the 
finest Percheron horses 
in the world; a practical 
farmer with a large mod- 
elfarra at Whitehall, HI. 
C. B. HUTCHISON5 
father of the Missouri 
Corn Growers’ Associa¬ 
tion. Born and raise,! 
on a Missouri farm. 
H. G. Van Pelt, one 
of the owners of Water¬ 
loo Jersey Farm, at 
Waterloo, Iowa A prac¬ 
tical breeder and dairy¬ 
man of many years’ e.x- 
perience. 
F. C. Minkler of New 
Jersey and J. M. Evvard 
of Iowa, the two big 
national authorities on 
cattleand swine feeding. 
C. H. Eckles of the 
University of Missouri, 
the outstanding Ameri¬ 
can authority on Dairy 
Breeding. 
E.H. Farrington, one 
of the most prominent 
authorities in America 
on Agricultural Chem¬ 
istry. 
C. S. Plumb of Ohio, 
the national authority 
on producing beef. 
Alva Agee, famous 
Secretary of Agriculture 
of New Jersey. 
Dean W. N. Jardine 
of Kansas, the leading 
authority in the United 
States on Dry Farming. 
Dr. a. S. Alexander, 
Director of Horse breed¬ 
ing and Professor of 
Veterinary Science in 
the University of Wis¬ 
consin. 
Reese V. Hicks, for¬ 
merly President of the 
American Poultry Asso¬ 
ciation. 
Only the lack of space 
prevents us from giving 
similar details of nearly 
100 other well - known 
authorities who are con¬ 
tributors to FARM 
KNOWLEDGE. 
66R27 
Seirs, Raekuck S Ca., Chieigo: Dita- 
.1917 
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