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MISCELLANEOUS ADDRESSES. 241 
That many persons in this part of the state are thinking of sub¬ 
stituting the cow for the plow, I am quite certain, and I am equally 
certain that many more must do so soon, or bankruptcy will stare 
them in the face. We now hear complaints on every hand about 
hard times, and the farmers all agree that something must be done. 
They agree that the system of farming hitherto pursued by most 
western farmers will not do any longer. They have been selling 
their soil by the bushel for the last 25 years, until they have near¬ 
ly exhausted it. True, this does not apply to all, as this gathering 
of intelligent dairymen before me clearly proves, but the masses 
have done it until their soil is impoverished and financially they 
are nearly bankrupt. 
Then comes the question, what shall be done ? It is not my 
purpose at this time to attempt to point out the remedy for these 
evils. I feel confident that the remedy is within reach, and we 
have only to open our eyes to see it. But I desire to offer a few 
words of advice to the dairymen of the audience, and I feel that 
perhaps this is unnecessary, for I suppose most if not all of you 
know as much about the business as I do (if not more.) But it is 
upon the principle that line upon line, and precept upon precept, 
here a little and there a good deal, is beneficial to most persons, 
that I presume to offer a little advice to you. 
Gentlemen, to you I would say (if you have not already done 
so), get the very best breeds of dairy cows to be had in this coun¬ 
try or in any other, remembering the best is the cheapest always, 
and when you have them, be sure that you give them the very 
best of care, for it is worse than folly to expect satisfactory finan¬ 
cial results from a half fed and poorly sheltered cow. 
It is not my province to go into the minutiae of the proper man¬ 
agement of dairy stock. This subject is to be discussed by other 
members of the convention, and those too that will be able to do 
the subject better justice than I can. 
I have said, give your cows the very best of care. All dairy¬ 
men do not agree as to what this means, some claiming that high, 
and others that moderate feeding is the most profitable. Without 
taking sides with either party (for both sides are sustained by 
good arguments), I will just repeat the old adage, and, gentlemen, 
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