in finished product. The common
cows consumed only two-thirds as much raw material as the Holsteins,
and turned out rather less than two-thirds of their product, while they
occupied an equal amount of floor space; consequently they had to give
place to more competent machines. They were to be sold during the
season.

Why dairymen can be found who will pay $50 apiece for cows like those I
had for sale (better, indeed, than the average), is beyond my method of
reckoning values. Twice $50 will buy a young cow bred for milk, and she
would prove both bread and milk to the purchaser in most cases. The
question of food should settle itself for the dairyman as it does for
the factory farmer. The more food consumed, the better for each, if the
ratio of milk be the same.

My Holsteins are great feeders; more than 2 tons of grain, 2-1/2 tons of
hay, and 4 or 5 tons of corn fodder, in addition to a ton of roots or
succulent vegetables, pass through their great mouths each year. The hay
is nearly equally divided between timothy, oat hay, and alfalfa; and
when I began to figure the gross amount that would be required for my 50
Holstein gourmands, I saw that the widow's farm had been purchased none
too quickly. To provide 100 tons of grain, 125 tons of hay, and 200 or
300 tons of corn fodder for the cows alone, was no slight matter; but I
felt prepared to furnish this amount of raw material to be transmuted
into golden butter. The Four Oaks butter had made a good reputation, and
the four oak leaves stamped on each mould was a sufficient guarantee of
excellence. My city grocer urged a larger product, and I felt safe in
promising it; at the same time, I held him up for a slight advance in
price. Heretofore it had netted me 32 cents a pound, but from January 1,
1898, I was to have 33-1/3 cents for each pound delivered at the station
at Exeter, I agreeing to furnish at least 50 pounds a day, six days in a
week.

This was not always easily done during the first eight months of that
year, and I will confess to buying 640 pounds to eke out the supply for
the colony; but after the young heifers came in, there was no trouble,
and the purchased butter was more than made up to our local grocer.

It will be more satisfactory to deal with dairy matters in lump sums
from now on. The contract with the city grocer still holds, and, though
he often urges me to increase my herd, I still limit the supply to 300
pounds a week,--sometimes a little mor