Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1891-12-12
DAIRY FARMING.
The Debit and Credit Side of the Ac-
count---Figures from practical
Experience.

time restore the fertility of the soil?"
was discussed at considerable length,
the members finally agreeing none at
all except enough to merely supply
the necessities, viz: pair Of horses to
do the work, Il COW to furnish milk
and butter, and hogs enough to fur
nish bacon and lard.
concluded if that was a fact that
the farm lands of this county were
forever rendered useless, as think it
an impossibility to restore them to
that fertility necessary to make farm
ing pay by the use Of commercial fer
tilizers and at same time make the
crops pay cost of fertilization and
labor, mean by farming the rails
ing and selling crops off the land.
l will admit, though, the possibil-
ity of the restoration of the soil by
proper tillage and commercial fertili-
cation, but | believe there is a stock,
if kept and cared for properly, will
restore it a great deal cheaper and
faster. will name her "the Dairy
Cow" Unlike the gentlemen at the
Institute, ] will not undertake to
prove this merely by assertions, but
allow me and l will bring the figures
t. prove my assertions.
What man in the county who calls
himself a farmer who hasn't from 90
to 200 acres of and? If this land is
rich, 50 much the better, but if it will
not sprout peas get machine (fOr the
tiry cow is a machine for making
it rich) and so to work on it.
Some may laugh at me for calling
her a machine, but she is a machine
for making feed into milk and butter
the same as Mr.. Walling's mill is for
making wheat into flour. Now to
the proof of my assertions. ! say if
your lands won't sprout peas you can
buy feed and work it up at profit,
and to prove this will give my expe-
rience. 1 have had dairy of only
10 cows for years, and while some
of them are good ones, there are some
very inferior ones among them. The
gross earnings of these cows for 1890
were $50 and some cents each, and
for 1891 to date 1850 for butter
alone. The sweet and sour milk as a
feed for pigs and calves, in fact, any
growing stock, is Of no small impor-
lance, and the manure from each cow
is equal to $1,000 worth of any fertil
izer that can be bought. Now you
ask what it costs to keep these cows ?
With the aid of corn ensilage, that
cost less than $500 per ton to raise
and harvest, i feed them at y cents per
day each in winter, which lasts about
five months. The other seven months
they do on pasture alone, although
believe it pays to feed little in sum-
mer. 1 give below the average earn
ings and expenses per COW:
CREDIT.
Gross earnings year in Butter.......$4S.SC
Skinned milk at 1 cent per gallon. 4.5C
Manure lU.U'
Total...................................$ 63. 81
DBDTIT.
Cost of keeping months at IN cents
per ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. q
Cost of ensilage fed months, extra ..... 60
Pasture. months, $l.00 per months. 7.0
Total. .."........".......".. ."..."..S242i
Profit on one COW in y months...,...$39,0
In the above / say nothing abou
the calf, as the skinned milk wa
fed to it, which 1 counted at cen
per gallon, neither did 1 count any
interest on investment or allow any
thing for labor, as the more cows yol
keep the less the labor cost per COW
Now this is an ordinary COW. 4
good dairy cow well cared for shoult
make 800 pounds Of butter per year
which in butter alone will bring $75
and i expect in a short time to kee
no COW that won't do that well.
Now you ask, where will l fin,
market for this butter? / get % cent
per pound for all / can make
) months in the year, from a grocer i
Chattanooga, and he pays freight o
butter and empty can back.
The only trouble about finding
market is to make gilt.edge articl
and it will sell. 1t will astonish yO
, when / tell you that the cost of but
ter in any family in McMinnville
more than the cost of flour. l wi
; not figure on this but let you eXamin
for yourself and it will be more in
t pressive. The way to make gilt-edg
butter requires no little study, an
the quickest way to learn is to get tn
| :o,,oo ,f Nbosn lnpor in tho bus