144 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Rock county, (if no larger organized territory), could it not be car¬ 
ried into effect, through our county government, this agricultural 
association, or the grange and farmers’ club organizations? 
Since the last return of this enemy, I have often been asked if 
“ the bugs were doing me much injury.” 
My reply has been, “ I do not raise them any more.” 
Mr. Allen didn’t believe in raising chinch bugs; would prevent 
by making conditions unhealthy for them; by packing and rolling 
the land. 
PRINCIPLES OF STOCK FEEDING. 
BY W. W. DANIELLS, M. S., 
Professor of Agriculture and Chemistry^ University of Wisconsin. 
The thorough treatment of the subject* under discussion would 
require, besides the question of the “value of milk, butter and 
cheese as food,” the consideration of the broader question of “ the 
health, feeding and care of dairy cows.” In the twenty minutes as¬ 
signed me in your programme, I shall confine myself more particu¬ 
larly to the feeding of cows, knowing full well that in so short a 
time, I can call attention to but few of the principles bearing upon 
this subject, which are alike in accordance with the teaching of 
science, and with the best practice. 
The successful dairyman regards his cow as a machine that is 
profitable or not, in proportion as she is able to convert much or 
little crude material, as hay, straw, grass, roots, grain, etc., into 
milk. Any other machine requires the expenditure of force to 
overcome its inertia, and the friction of its parts, that is, to put it 
and keep it in motion, and it is only the force exerted in excess of 
this amount that is available for useful purposes. So does the cow 
consume force to carry on the vital processes of her system, and it 
is only the materials consumed in excess of the amount required for 
this purpose, that can be converted into useful products. Hence 
the most profitable cow is the one that, while requiring the smallest 
*The writer was one of three, appointed to read papers at the annual convention, upon 
“The Daiuy Cow as a Food Produceb.” 
