Norwich bulletin., 1914-03-14
TWO GREAT COWS AND A BUMBLEGOAT!

ifestly wasn't any of it waste, for it brought back in milk twice what 1t cost in money I know I didn't give my "Bumblegoat" half that amount or value-though I always fed her all she would eat The smaller cost of my ration was nevertheless, futile waste, for the COW didn't return me the cost of her keep.
 Some dairynen assert that breeding is the one thing which counts in cows productive value. We'll Bum blegoat'' was rather well bred, and she wasn't worth raising. Others assert that it all depends on the "nutritiye ratio' of her fodder. Perhaps I tried at least three highly commended ra- tions for s'Bumblegoat,' and she didn't do whit better on any one of them than she did on her regular diet of hay, rn-stalks bran and cut roots.
 While it must be admitted that breed ing has some relation to a cows value and that feeding has some bearing on her production. it is mighty hard Tor a common farmer. sometimes, to see where the ''kink' comes in when well-bred. well fed COW doesn't earn her salt For my part. I'm inclined to say that Sophie and Kate" are uncommonly good cows while Bum
  COW and let it go at that There's a big difference in folks and neither heredfty nor environment will always explain that difference. Why isn't it reasonable to assume a similar diff ference in cows2
 Whatever theory we may hold about this matter isn't of so much import ance. after all, as the cold fact in a 9 good profit on extra poor care and feed: another COW costs him more than she brings in to him, no matter what her care and fodder
 The first COW is a profitable in- vestment: the second COW is a four legged bunco,. and all the fodder given her is waste.
 Now, we can't all of us have "Sophies" and "Kates." more's the pity On the other hand, we don't any of us need to keep ''Bumblegoats' any longer than is required to find out their worthlessness.
 Yet whole lot of us are doing ex- actly that thing:-keeping cows and horses and some other animals that don't pay their way
 Will you tell me why?
 Whats the sense of spending $1.10 to get $1 back? Whats the sense of spending $110, unless we take pains enough to find out whether it is re- turning us S1 or S1.50?
 A hyerometer and a Babcock tester may be very handy things for those who know how and have time to use them. But a farmer doesn't need either one to find out whether a COW is earning her board or not. A stub of lead pencil and the butt of a shingle are enough to tell him that much.
 have two or three neiehbors whose hens are earning them an average of over a doller per hen. the year round and year after year. I have some oth- CT neighbors whose eggs are costing them more than fifty cents a. dozen in the price of scratch-feed wasted on unproductive fowls.
 Hens that will pay their way are a good investment; lAt hens that eat their own heads off ln big feed bills are simply a waste of money and time
 It isn't necessary for any farmer to learn bookkeeping and write up a set of double entry books in order 10 know whether he is running ahead or behind. In my own case, I've found a little vest pocket memorandum book dDOuC i've 1HcHeS DN two, all IDdL my business requires. It tells me, by tn simple process of adding up at the end of any particular season, what I ve paid and what I've received for this. that, and the other crop. I've found that some things pay well some years and little of anyt hing, other years. I've also found that some things pay ev- cry year. and some things never pay. These last I cut oGt, just as soon as the fact of their unprofita tableness is established. Where g crop seems to be rather clancy, dependent upon the Whims of the season, l go light on it. Where a crop shows profit, regularly, I bear down heavy" on that crop,
 a heavy as my land and my market will authorize.
 But it would seem tc be mighty poor business t keep on wasting precious time and costly fertilizers and hart+ = earned money on crops which wouldn't t Fay back what was spent on them. Nor can l see any adequate excuse for my not knowing which is which. There are plenty of other things which we don't know and apparently cant find out. It is no shame to us that we are ignorant of such. But this matter of learning our outgocs and our incomes is so simple and so easily