as valuable. Whether this can be done, I have not now
time to consider; but at any rate if your land produces as many weeds as
do some fields on my farm, not to say the Deacon's, and if the
plant-food that these weeds absorb, could be organized by nutritious
grasses, this alone would do a good deal towards accomplishing the
object. Whether this can be done or not, we want cows that can eat and
turn to good account as much food per annum as is contained in nine tons
of ordinary meadow-hay; and we want this nutriment in a bulk not
exceeding six tons of hay. _If possible_, we should get this amount of
nutriment in grass or hay. But if we can not do this, we must _feed
enough concentrated food_ to bring it up to the desired standard.

"But will it pay?" asked the Deacon; "I have not much faith in buying
feed. A farmer ought to raise everything he feeds out."

"As a rule, this may be true," I replied, "but there are many
exceptions. I am trying to show that it will often pay a dairyman well
to buy feed rich in nitrogen and phosphates, so as to make rich manure,
and give him a start. After he gets his land rich, there is little
difficulty in keeping up its productiveness.

"Now, I have said--and the figures, if anything, are too low--that if a
cow, eating six tons of hay, or its equivalent, a year, produces 400
lbs. of cheese, a cow capable of eating, digesting, and turning to good
account nine tons of hay, or its equivalent, a year, would produce 1,090
lbs. of cheese, or its equivalent in other products."

I would like to say much more on this subject, but I hope enough has
been said to show that there is great advantage in feeding rich food,
even so far as the production of milk or beef is concerned; and if this
is the case, then there is no difficulty in making rich manure on a
dairy farm.

And I am delighted to know that many farmers in the dairy districts are
purchasing more and more bran and meal every year. Taking milk, and
beef, and manure all into the account, I feel sure that it will be found
highly profitable; but you must have good cows--cows that can turn their
extra food to good account.

This is not the place to discuss the merits of the different breeds of
cows. All I wish to show is, that to make better manure, we must use
richer food; and to feed this to advantage, we must have animals that
can turn a large amount of food, over and above the amount required to
sustain the vital functions, into milk,