The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1884-03-21

|H0, THE COW =!
The DalIymen's Convention at
| MapIeton.
Largely Attended. and Replete with
Logic, Wisdom and Good Cheer.
Tally Another One For Blue Earth
County Farmers.
The Dairymen's Convention adver-
tised to convene in Mapeton on Satur-
day, was the largest attended local
meeting ever held in the county, and
the general character of the papers
read were such as to convince all who
listened to their reading, that we need
not import from other sections, men
who are renowned for their knowledge
of conducting the dairy and creamery
successfully, to enligbten this COM
munity.
One of the pleasant features of the
convention was the presence of SO
many farmers wives, who seemed as
I Interested and enthusiastic in the sub
ljects discussed as did the head Of the
family himself.
At 10 o'clock a. M, .Sprague's Hall
twas well filled with an intelligent, earn
est appearing audience, and half hour
later M. J. Z. Brown raped the house
to orders In few pointed remarks,
Mr.. Brown stated for what purpose the
convention had been called. He was
well aware that farmers cannot sell
farms for as much to-day as they could
dozen years ago. There is cause for
this, and, said he, "the object of this
convention is to consider and discuss
topics relating to this fact. 1t is my
opinion that among all domestic animals
in existence, except it be the mule, the
COW is the most important" Mr.. Brown
closed his remarks with the sentiment:
''The cow first, last and forever, unless
it be the mule" He then introduced
Hon. c. G. Spaulding, chairman of the
convention, the organization having
been perfected the evening previous.
The chairman arose and addressed
the convention briefly, stating that they
had a programme prepared of which
no, convention need be ashamed. At
this point a we'll balanced and melod-
ious quartette under charge of Mr.. S. c.
Brooks, rendered "The Greeting Glee, "
Miss Flora Hanna at the organ.
Rev. s. Stowe was next introduced,
who read paper on 'The Capability
of this Section for Dairy Interests" the
substance being as follows:
eve cannot expect to learn all there
is to be learned on this topic in one day.
Nature has been very liberal in endow-
ing our soil with dairy capabilities.
We cannot expect to carry dairying on
successfully on land that has been ut
terly exhausted by nyer-cropping with
wheat and other grains, but patience and
skillful culture will bring the desired
result. The same has been experience
ed in older States that now stand at the
front as dairy States. The more stock
we put on farm the greater will be
the value Of the farm, for stock always
helps to enhance the value of land and
make it more productive. Reports
from California and other States show
this to be true, and tacitly concludes,
that COWS, not negroes, will enrich the
country. The southern part of the
United States is too warm for dairying
purposes, the northern part too cold
and the most of the western territories
too dry. The average rainfall of any
region adds to its value for dairying,
and there must be at least an average
of % inches per annum to make dairy
ing success" The speaker then gave
figures, showing the average rainfall of
different parts of the United States,
and then proceeded: eve have about
the same average rainfall as the great
dairy States farther east and our soil is
well adapted to the rearing of cattle.
We have a very good region for corn
raising, and l have known but two
failures in that crop here in eighteen
years. One interesting fact is, that we
can support large number of cows on
small area of land if properly manag-
ed, and dairying is On easy and inter-
esting business, and can be done with
the help at home, thus avoiding high
wages and expensive machinery. For
ty years ago butter was made at prices
ranging from 10 to Is cents per pound
and the farmers got rich; and at the
present time we get more for unchurn-
ed cream than they did. for butter at
that time. Besides, we can sell two
year old heifer now for as much as a
good COW would sell for forty years
ago. If we wish to make the creamery
system pay, we must keep more cows,
so the cream gatherer can make his
rounds with six cans daily instead of
two or three. Europe is our great but
ter market to-day, and, owing to the
adaptation of our section to dairying,
we can manufacture butter here cheap
er than the States farther east. One
pound costs them as much as two does
us, while the cost of shipping is about
two cents per pound. Our aim now
must be to improve the quality of our
butter and bring it up to a proper
standard. If we do this, the eastern
States cannot compete with u.s." Mr..
Stowe then produced some interesting
statistics showing the great increase of
the population of the country. He
said: ''The increase in population of
the large cities ranges from 4 to 100 fold
in forty years and these cities must get
their supply of butter from the coun-
try, and increase of population there,
increases the demand for dairy pro-
ducts. In forty years our twin cities
will be in advance of Boston in popula-
ton, thus increasing the home demand
for these products, hence our future
prospects are bright. One draw back
to the dairy industry is the wide spread