How to “Even Up”

When you have read the articles mentioned in the three parts of this chapter on Farming, do not turn away with the idea that you have got from the Britannica all that it can give you to help you in your business. Remember that you have to judge men, as well as live-stock, in order to succeed, and that general knowledge is of the greatest use in doing that. The one sure sign of the kind of man you cannot rely upon is that he talks confidently about subjects of which he really knows little, and the more you yourself know, the more readily you can detect the pretentious people who might make you think too well of them.

If you turn over the pages of this guide, and ask yourself, as you glance at the chapters, in what departments of general knowledge you are weakest, you will see what courses of reading will do most to make you an “evened up” man, without any weak threads in your intellectual texture. And, whatever you read, do not forget that the Britannica is a book of reference as well as for reading: that you are debasing your mind every time you leave unanswered any question that comes up in the course of the day’s work or talk, or while you are reading your newspaper. A vigorous mind wants an answer whenever it becomes conscious of a question or of a doubt, and if you fail to feed it with the information it asks for, it loses health. Now that you have the Britannica, the food is in the store-room, do not leave it there!

[See list of articles on subjects connected with stock-raising and other branches of farming, at the end of Chapter III of this Guide.]

CHAPTER III
FOR DAIRY FARMERS

SEE ALSO CHAPTER I, FOR FARMERS, AND CHAPTER II, FOR STOCK-RAISERS

The admirable set of rules for dairy farmers issued by the United States Department of Agriculture begins by telling you to “read current literature and keep posted on new ideas.” And you can easily see that the information on dairy-farming and the many subjects connected with it, supplied by the Britannica, must cover a much broader field of new ideas than can be included in any periodical or dairying manual. The branches of science in which the greatest advance has been made since the beginning of the present century happen to be those that have most to do with dairying; and the industry itself has been completely revolutionized since the days when cities got their milk from ramshackle cow-sheds in their suburbs, and when butter-making was regarded as one of the “chores” to be done at odd times.

The key article in the Britannica, Dairy and Dairy Farming (Vol. 7, p. 737), deals with the best milking breeds, the installation, equipment, and management of a dairy farm, the values of various kinds of pasturage and fodder; with the milk trade, with butter-making and cheese-making, with condensed milk, skim milk, and milk powder and with the organization and operation of creameries, cheeseries, and dairy factories in general. Such subjects as soil, grass, hay and other fodder crops fall under Part I of this chapter, and the articles dealing with the breeding and rearing of dairy cattle are mentioned in Part II, “For Stock-Raisers.”

Dairy-Herd Diseases

Cattle diseases in general are also covered by the course of reading suggested in Part II; but the dairy farmer has a special interest in contagious mammitis, milk fever, contagious abortion, and cowpox, all of which are described (Vol. 28, p. 10) in the article on Veterinary Science. You cannot study too carefully the article on Tuberculosis (Vol. 27, p. 354), for this terrible infection is not only a standing danger to your herd, but also affects the transportation and marketing of milk. Dr. Hennessy, who wrote the article, is an expert of the first rank and, like most other great authorities, is not inclined to encourage the popular exaggeration of the dangers for which newspaper “sensations” are responsible.