majority of mankind is not doing. To them dairying is meagre and poor and they only look at the cash end, of which I will speak later. I wish I could say something to help them to see that to the extent they cultivate themselves, bring out by education the gifts and qualities that belong to the real dairyman, therein lies true success!

Dairying is elevating in its tendency. It requires promptness, encourages system and the keeping of accurate, daily records. It rewards careful investigation. It responds munificently to intelligent effort, which is induced by research and education; all of which gives a broader view of life and strengthens character.

The attitude and conduct towards a dairy herd necessary for good results must be such as to promote gentleness, kindness and a humane disposition, by which a man cannot help but be made better. Dairying, when rightly conducted, does not interfere with other and different interests on the farm. Because of the opportunity to enrich the land and increase its yield by keeping milk cows, it is possible for every farmer on 80 acres, who raises grain exclusively, to make his land produce enough more to feed from eight to ten cows, and still have as much grain to sell as he had before. If you doubt this, I would refer you to a farmer (a typical dairyman), who lives within two miles of this hall, who keeps eight to ten cows on 40 acres, and who has sold $250 worth of hay so far this season and still has plenty of feed left for his stock. To neglect this opportunity is criminal waste. In other words, a farm without a dairy department is no more complete than a stock of groceries without coffee or sugar.

The revenue from a dairy herd is money found! It is extra! It is the making of two dollars where one was made before. The money from an ordinary dairy, kept on good dairy principles, will pay for the farm in ten years.

The old way of giving the butter and eggs to the women if they would look after them, is very poor dairying and is being discarded very fast. These things become the main things; all else secondary. Dairying contributes more largely to the improvement of a country and keeps more money in circulation than anything else. For these reasons everyone should be interested in it: good roads, good barns, fertile land, big crops, attractive, comfortable, well furnished homes, large bank accounts, prosperous business enterprises and contented people are all evidences of a dairy community. A few years ago a man traveling through southern Medina, Wayne or Stark counties might have seen fine farms and lovely barns built from the productions of the virgin soil, by raising wheat and so forth, the women having what was got out of the cows. And a "git" it was, for, after furnishing the amount needed for use in the house, the butter was sold at any price that the corner grocery might payfrom 8 to 16 cents. But the day came when acid phosphates could no longer eke from the ground a paying wheat crop. The poor renter had often to look to the owner for seed for the next season. It looked as if it would soon be a land of tenants and landlords, instead of renters and landowners. But things have changed. Recently, in attending a public sale on the farm formerly owned by the late R. O. Hinsdale, I heard a couple of old German farmers say they must buy a fresh cow, as butter was 32 cents and they could produce it for less than that. Being interested, I asked them why the change. They said, "With new fangled methods of selling cream, every man was now keeping cows and getting Elgin prices, so that a man could hardly buy a good cow for love or money." We find that the advent of large checks regularly from the dairy enables the farmer to avoid debt of any kind. Store accounts are unnecessary; doctor's bills are met promptly; taxes are paid when due; farm hands get their money

regularly. Substantial improvements are made; homes are furnished; trips are taken; schools kept up; churches supported and all of these innumerable expenses are paid in cash with the revenue from the faithful herd of milk cows that are furnishing a good market for the products on the farm and furnishing that market right at home.

Recently, in conversation with L. D. Ream, the merchant at Paxton, he said to me: "A while ago I was visiting a friend up in the northeastern part of Summit County, and while out for a ride one afternoon, I told my friend I would not want to keep a grocery in that part, as I thought the land so poor that if I trusted a customer I would never get my pay, as I could not see whence it could come. But I found that even on those side hills, with a few good cows, they had a nice little check coming every pay day from Cleveland." In other locations, the first substantial return from the dairy is for butter fat. With modern facilities it can be separated from the milk immediately and put on the market, where it commands the highest price. Next to butter fat is the revenue from calves and pigs that are developed for market with skimmed milk, and last, but not least, is the enhancement of the farm by constantly returning to the soil its fertility and increasing its productiveness.

A few pointers, well to ponder over and to remember: When you sell butter fat you are selling sunshine. When you sell grain you are selling the fertility of the soil. If the season is right, you harvest wheat and oats once a year. You harvest milk twice a day. The dairyman leaves his family a better farm than he got, the grain raiser doesn't. A ton of wheat takes $7 worth of fertility from the soil; a ton of butter takes 50 cents. The wheat today is $30 a ton; butter $600. Which do you raise? A carload of grain is worth $250. A carload of butter is worth $5,000. Why not convert grain into butter and save freight on the 19 cars?

We all know that for the past few years short business. courses have been open to the public, for young men and women to prepare themselves to enter some business position. We find these graduates in shops, banks and other offices getting $5 to $8 per week, and boarding themselves.

Just of late, short courses in dairying have been instituted in different states, the first in Wisconsin, the results from which are telling by the reports from all dairy sections, till now she stands in the lead as a dairy state. Our state has now two courses along this all important line, one a two years' course and the other six weeks, which a young man can take at a cost not exceeding $60. If he is on the ambitious order he can defray nearly all the cost by working at the dairy barns of the university. Any good dairyman would sooner pay such a hired man this amount extra, and where is the young business man that gets the wages that the dairyman pays, $20 to $25 per month, with board and washing? But we can't get such students to work, because the call now for young men equipped for taking care of thoroughbred herds of dairy cattle, who understand the testing and production of milk, breeding and feeding of dairy cattle, care and handling the products, is much greater than the supply, and wages in this line are very high.

Too many farmers think that experience is the one thing needful, and dairy school training out of place. Many a farmer does not realize that the reason his boys leave the farm is because the home is not supplied with good farm literature. From all that they can see at home or among the neighbors there are none of the finer or higher ambitions. And yet there is plenty of chance, at small cost for any man to follow a line of farming that he can be proud of. It must, for instance, be mighty dull business to milk a poor, scrub

cow, get but little for it and do this year after year, "with but few other privileges." No wonder a boy runs away from home in the night. Or a bright boy sees how father and the neighbors look at farming, so he thinks he will try something that he can be "proud of!" Pride, ambition, the desire to stand well in one's profession, is the salt of human character. There ought to be more of it among farmers.

I suppose that you all read what Prof. Fraser said in his address at the National Dairy Show in Chicago. He gave a very graphic reason why so many of the dairy farmers in easy distance from Chicago did not attend the show. He gave the results of one herd of cows he had tested, the past year. This herd, and there are hundreds like it, averaged only 133 pounds of butter per cow. What does that mean? The average price of butter at Elgin the past five years was 23 cents. This would give these cows $30.59 apiece for their year's work. The cost of feed was at least $30, leaving 59 cents for profit. That meant that there are dairymen in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio who milk a cow nine and one-half times to get a little over a cent profit. That is the reason they could not go to the dairy show. They are so busy milking these poor cows that they have no time to come. A man would have to milk such a cow 45 times to get a nickle to ride on the street car.

Farming is all right if we will We must know more about our fit for the business.

Almost every day I hear some old farmer say: "It seems to me that dairy farming is getting to be a good deal of a discouraging proposition. A fellow has to know so much, has to have so much knowledge about cows, feeds and sanitary stables and all that; the old-time simplicity of farm life is about gone." It is true the farmer must be a more intelligent man to raise good crops on the soil today than was required 50 years ago.. We are up against the effects of ignorant farming now. Then, he had the soil fresh from the hands of an all-wise Creator; now, we have it from the hands of men who thought they did not need to know very much to farm this land. Of course it takes more knowledge today than it did then, but we can get that knowledge. It can be had for a good deal less than our ignorance has cost us. meet the demands of the farm as we should. soils. We must quit keeping cows that are not I think that I am safe in saying that 35 per cent. of the cows in Ohio are kept at a loss; yet, in the right hands, they might produce 10,000 pounds of 4 per cent. milk in a year. I do not claim for a moment that all cows can be made valuable dairy cows, for many of them need a wet nurse to raise their calves. But on the other hand, many a valuable animal has gone from whence no traveler returns with her good qualities unheralded, simply because some poor feeder has had the handling of her. What can you expect when a farmer says he buys Hammond Dairy Feed because his local man sells it, and tells him it is good for cows, and it doesn't cost quite so much; when for $3 or $4 per ton he could have bought "Climax," that analyzes twice as much—and in this way robs the cow, that in a short time robs the owner. There is but one way: he must study his business. He must watch, the same as the merchant in this age of competition is compelled to watch his business, or he will make a dismal failure of the dairy industry. He must not milk his cows year after year without knowing what they are doing. He must keep a record of their milk individually, and if, as matured cows, they are not giving more than 5,000 pounds of 4 per cent. milk per year, he should dispense with them. It is not necessary to have a herd of registered cows in order to make a success in dairying, or to have it attractive; and yet there is not a question but what with registered stock you are more sure that your heifer calves will make good dairy animals. (Brother Buchan will talk to you on this line.)

Another attractive feature of dairying is that, with the improvement of our inspection laws, people are learning that there are many cleanly farmers, who are able to get a much better price from good, reliable buyers for their products. The day (I am glad to say) is now past when any old thing will pass at the same price as the best. These inspectors have found creameries, cheese factories and milk depots in such filthy conditions that their reports were appalling. These places are being fast cleaned up, and we should help speed the day when this inspection is carried into every home. Because wherever poor products are made, it eventually comes back to the man behind the cow. Have you ever thought how many cows there are in the United States? It is calculated that if they all stood 13 abreast they would reach from New York to Denver, Colorado.

"SHOULD FARMERS ORGANIZE?"

BY R. S. TIDRICK.

[Read at the Farmers' Institute held at Sherodsville, February 26 and 27, 1908.]

Today the farmer is met on all sides by organizations. Organized capital and organized labor face him at every turn. Organization of people who are engaged in similar vocations is beneficial and right. In union there is strength is a rule, but not an infallible one. Governments have crumbled, religions decayed and political parties ceased to exist because of false principles. We believe the organization of any class of people will benefit them at no one else's expense if the object of such organization is to better its members and others with whom they may come in contact.

The rural population gives a stamina to the moral attitude of any community. Why not organize the farmers for the good it may do? The farmer as a tradesman, or may we call him a professional, antedates all other trades or professions. Our history as a republic depends upon the education of our people. More people are engaged in agriculture than in any other industry, and since by organization and co-operation we gain the knowledge of each others' experiences, why not organize the farmers?

From an economic standpoint, the success or failure of our country in its marvelous increase in population depends upon the farmers. We are one of a very few nations that export foodstuffs. If the farmers of our country do.not increase their ability to produce in a ratio equal to the increase of our population, and you must reckon the depreciation in plant food in the land, we will soon cease to furnish food for other people and begin to look for some sister nation to furnish us foodstuffs. Why not organize, farmers, for economical reasons, if for no other? Co-operation will undoubtedly make thriftier farmers.

Another vital question that stares the farmer in the face is taxation. Anyone who will recognize facts must admit that the farmers are paying more than their share of taxes. Why not organize and compel an equitable readjustment of tax values in Ohio? There are enough farmers in Ohio if they thoroughly co-operate, to effect the passage of any just legislation.

How do we know, do you ask, that a complete organization of the farmers will bring such results? We have to look to but one organization of farmers to substantiate these and many other encouraging statements. I mean the

Grange, and use this organization as an illustration, because it is the only national organization of farmers in existence today. This organization has had a continued and growing existence for forty years. It is an institution backed by sufficient funds to make its continued existence and expansion not only possible, but highly probable. Scores of other farmers' organizations have failed and ceased to exist because of a lack of funds. The National Grange has a membership counted by millions, and good real estate loans and cash amounting at present to over one hundred thousand dollars.

The work done by the legislative committee of the National Grange and legislative committees of state granges, has done more to give the farmers a standing in local and national affairs than any other effort. There is hardly a limit to the amount of good that can be done to bring the farmer into his own, if done in a non-partisan way.

The organization to make itself effective must be able to wield sufficient influence to defeat legislation diametrically opposed to the farmers' interests and to influence the passage of laws looking to their welfare. This can be done only through a united and intelligent organization. The Grange stands for a higher agriculture and for equal distribution of taxes both state and national, and for justly distributed power.

There is no occupation to be compared with that of the farmer. With the telephone, trolley lines and rural delivery the isolation and dullness of country life have been relieved, and the farmer and his family have been brought out into a broader sphere.

The Grange is uniting the farmers in one grand, fraternal bond, whose foundation rock is an enduring, prosperous agriculture. The great principles underlying the foundation of the organization are co-operation, fraternity and education. As I look over the past and see the progress these grange organizations have made in advancing the material interests and conditions of the farmers of the nation, I believe the future success of the farmers lies in their ability to maintain an organization that will protect their interests and principles.

The aim of organization is to furnish assistance to the farmers. This may be in moral or mental development, in economical interests, or it may be in the way of getting proper legislation. The Grange formerly aimed and succeeded in reducing the middlemen's profit. The great effort of the Grange today is to protect the rights of the people against the great monopolies that, through aggregation of capital and combined influence in legislaion, seek unlimited power. So long as this organization maintains its present policies and continues its present vigorous campaign along these lines it will remain a power for good and will be recognized as such by thinking people everywhere. And this is not all. As a great social factor in the community, and as a means of practical education through the mental development of the members who participate in its exercises, it is unsurpassed by any organization in the country.

Back a number of years, the Mississippi river, that giant representing the united strength of the raindrops, broke its bounds. It flooded the farms and ruined the homes of a number of patrons in Louisiana and Mississippi. The National Grange promptly voted several thousand dollars as a relief fund for worthy sisters and brothers. Fraternity means something. Up in Maine the Grange has built a cottage and supports twenty-five orphans. There are countless instances where patrons have come to the aid of an unfortunate and arrested the financial storm that threatened to wreck their homes.

The Farmers' Institute is not an institution for the Grange, but for any who wish to benefit by it. Had it not been for the Grange or some other