Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1885-07-01
THE cow IN MINNESOTA.

The ST. Paul Globe says: In his admir-
able address before the late Dairymen's
at Moorhead, Gen. j. II.
Baker paid just tribute to the COW when
he said the whole structure of a civilized
state would be shorn of much of its solid
comfort and strength If the presence of
the honest old beast were wanting. She
is beyond all rivalry the queen of domes-
tic animals, and as such occupies a place
of pre-eminent importance. There can
be no controversy in relation to his state
ment that as a matter of actual living,
from the cradle to the grave, we could
better abolish all other domestic animals
than that the COW and her race should be
exterminated from the earth. Neither
can any one successfully controvert the
statement that the rearing of stock is the
best reliance yet discovered for the reno
walton of exhausted soils. Mixed hus-
bandrY is the salvation of our Minnesota
lands.
Gen. Baker groups the ADVANTAGES, both
material and 9sthetical, of dairy and
stock farming under twelve heads, as
follows:
First-Both in England and the United
States no character of farming lands have
increased in value in the ratio of those in
the cattle and dairy districts. Grazing
lands are more valuable than grain lands
the world over. And stock farmers, as
rule, are more we'll TODD than other
farmers.
II, A. -
exhaustible fertility TO be had, and that
be returned to it, or the soil is impOver-
ished.
. Third-That no method has ever yet
been discovered. by science or experience.
which will not only retain, but increase
the productive power of the soil, equal to
the raising of grass and stock. Pastur
age, clover and barn yard manure furnish
the easiest and simplest way of return
ing wastage. Grass means cattle. cattle
mean diaries and beef, butter and cheese.
Fourth-Acre for acre, there is much
greater average yield of value to stock
and dairy farming than to any kind of
grain farming.
Fifth-That it costs less in money and
drudgery to run a stock and dairy farm
than it does to run grain farm.
Sixth-That even inferior lands can be
utilized for dairy farms. Hill-sides can
be turned into use and poor soils set to
grass.
Seventh-That such farming simplifies
the whole question of transportation; for
the products of the farm are concentrated
into the smallest compass. and the cost
of conveyance is at once reduced to a
minimum. The products of the dairy
and cattle are sent to market for about
one-twentieth the cost of frelghting grain.
Eighth-That the products of the dairy
and stock farm are more readily, con-
venlently and earlier turned into cash.
Ninth-That dairy and stock farms are
seldom mortgaged; while grain farms are
uniformly encountered for both land and
machinery. And on grain farms the good
old cow Is often mortgaged to save both
the land and machinery.
Tenth--1he dairymen and the stock
raisers do not look to war in Europe to
help them out with their bad crops. They
are not at the mercy of the stock jobbers,
who send grain up and down like fish
cork; nor are they running tilt with
Russian serfs for supremacy in the grain
markets of England.
Eleventh-Stock and dairying provide
against failure of crops. Bad weather
doesn't effect them disastrously. The
weevil, the chinch bug, the grasshoppers
and the rust have no terrors for them
The grasses have fewer enemies than
grain fields.
Twelfth-And finally stock and dairy
farming is not only regeneration of the
soil, but it advances the social, intellect
ual and home life of those engaged in the
pursuit. A stock farm, with its green
pastures and noble herds and flocks is the
most beautiful picture in the rural world.
The artist paints its beauties and the poet
sings its praises. The home is painted,
the children 60 to school, there are flow
ers in the yard, there is music in the house
! and no mortgage on the premises
The marked advantages of associated
diaries are thus presented by him:
The advantages of associated effort in
the making of butter and cheese are ad-
mirably adapted to aid the farmer in these
processes. The care and time so essential
| to perfect results are not always given
in the family. Associated diaries not on
ly remedy such evils, but afford the most
advanced facilities for the manufacture
of these articles. On the old black slate
hills of Herkimer county, New York, the
American system of associated dairying
had its birth. The Western Reserve
counties of Ohio soon followed, and since
then, though with irregular steps, these
establishments have spread over the newer
dairy regions of the northwest. I find,
| by careful inquiry, that eighty creameries
have been established in Minnesota,
| twenty seven of which are doing a large
and lucrative business, some of them max
ing ton day at this time. Most of
them are in the counties south of the
Minnesota river. There are in the state
also twenty-One cheese factories, though
the making of cheese is not on the in
crease in Minnesota.
The marked advantages OF associated
effort over private families are superior
| quality and uniformity of product by rea-
son of which higher price IS command
ed. Boxes and bandages are bought at
wholesale and shipments are effected on
more reasonable terms. In addition to
! this it relieves the farmers family of
much drudgery without impairing this
profit. Their labor saving machinery
| adds to the ease, economy. expedition
| and certainty of results with which the
various processes are conducted. Cream
| cries seem to educate the taste of the
consumer. and the farmer, brought face
to face with errors of practice, has been
forced to improve his methods. He has
been taught that clean, healthy milk,
untainted by purifying germs, but kept
in cool, well-ventllated rooms, is alb
solutely essential. No farmers wife.
though she be an angel from heaven, can
make good butter, except these conditions
be provided by her husband.
Butter-making IS now one of the fine
arts. 1t must, in fact, be "gilt-edge,"
golden yellow, aromatic with fragrant
clover and bonbons of oil cake. 1t must
be put up in snowy and attractive man
ner, imbedded in glass bricks or golden
balls, or embossed with a handsome sheaf
of golden grain. Butter-eaters are grow
ing fastidious, and farmers must yield to
the aesthetics of the situation.
The Sale Of Holstein-Fr1sslan Cattle.
The first sale of Holstein- Friesian cat
tie ever held this side of Chicago, came off
Al -. IL