The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1916-07-13
PAYS TO RAISE
HIGH-CLASS CATTLE.
INTERESTING STORY OF YOUNG
FARMERS ACHIEVEMENTS
ALONG THIS LINE.

AAOINU xnAS AsA1NSs
The following very interesting ar
tcle by Mr. Paul C Willard is taken
from the current number OF The
American Magazine. We believe it
will be of interest to every farmers
son in the county. especially those
interested in raising improved cattle.
This is a romance of real life the
biography of farmer boy who had
the pluck and perseverance TO make
a great dream come true.
On the hills of Oneida county New
York, three miles from Clinton, a few
years ago lived Francis N Jones, the
son of farmer struggling for a
meager livelihood. One of young
Jones's daily tasks was to milk, NOR
ming and night, the red cows of his
fathers herd; but he felt contempt
for such common stock and cherish
ed an ambition to own some animals
of better breed. He broached the
idea to his father; but the elder
Jones,a farmer of the old school, re-
jected it promptly. Cows we're cows
in his sight.
But Frank clung to his scheme.
He read livestock papers and kept
on pleading with his father. He could
make some money if he had some
Holsteins; he was Sure Of it. He was
equally sue that there was no profit
to speak Of in common cattle. At
last the father yielded. Frank might
do as h. pleased. he said, but he had
no faith in the project.
They announced an auction. The
neighbors came, shaking their heads
at what seemed to them rash act,
and bought the herd, thirty head and
that night the big barn stood empty.
Frank hastened to a stock farm the
next day and bought two spotted
black-and-whi,e heifers of excellent
pedigree for $3.50 and joyously drove
them home. The farmers saw him
trudging through the dust behind
his cows, and scoffed. They antici-
pated dire disaster for Farmer Jones.
But Frank tended his caws through
the winter and the next spring ir-
chased seven calves, bringing his in
vestment up to S1.40G. which, re-
member, was the total amount staked
on the enterprise.
Then came lean and anxious years
at Spring Farm, as Frank called the
home of his miniature herd. He was
obliged to wait for his animals TO
reach maturity; but through those
trying times he never faltered in his
faith. The heifers grew big and
sleek. He always fed end watered
them with his own hands: he groom
ed and petted them, and coaxed milk
from them in prodigious quantities.
And. between these tasks, he studied
every book that he could find on cat
tie and devoured every livestock
journal from cover to cover. He eX-
perimented with various kinds Of
feed with tireless patience and mas.
tered every detail of his business.
His reward came even before ne
recognized it. One of the two heifers
that he had driven home so proudly
was the mother of little creature
that he named Pontiac Lass.
The young dairyman bided his
time, meanwhile weighing the milk
and keeping careful record. which
told him that his COWS were eXtraor-
dinary, and that year by year their
milk production steadily increased.
Above them all stood Pontiac Lass.
his favorite. Her yield was almost
incredible. Jones kept his own coun-
sci until he was convinced; then he
sent to Cornell university and asked
for some dairy experts.
Trained herdsmen came and began
a seven-days' test of Pontiac Lass.
They MIXED four times day
morning, noon, evening and mid
night. There was little sleep for
Jones. AS nervously as candidate
awaiting the election returns. he
haunted the barn where his pet plac.
idly chewed her cud, and where at
noon or by lantern light the strang-
ers computed the butter fat.
The seventh day came. The fig
ures were completed-more than "A
pounds of butter-and the excited
herdsmen proclaimed that the world
record had been broken by Pontiac
Lass. Not by narrow margin, eth
er, but by more than two pounds.
They showered congratulations on
Jones, who seemed not surprised at