[CONDITIONS.]
It is not every novice that can take up the business of dairying and carry it on successfully; yet, some of our most successful dairymen are comparative novices in the business. Quick observation and sound judgment are important qualities in a dairyman. These qualities are not always acquired by long experience, but are oftener the generous gifts of nature. Hence, it frequently happens that men of quick discernment step into a new business and achieve success where others have met only years of failure. Improvements in all callings are apt to be made by sharp lookers-on, who are not bred in the habits of routinism, nor prejudiced against radical innovations. They see at a glance where the plodder fails, and fearlessly apply the remedy—often a short-cut to ends that have hitherto been reached with much difficulty and hard labor. And here is where the real inventor finds his greatest field of usefulness.
PASTURES.
Sweet pastures, with a variety of nutritious grasses growing in them, are essentials to success in dairying—especially in butter making—in summer. Bitter and other mal flavored weeds must be avoided, as they flavor both the milk and the product manufactured from it. The cows must not be worried, nor over-worked in rambling over poor pastures to get sufficient food.
WATER.
Plenty of clean water must be conveniently at hand for the cows to drink. The water must be sweet and clean enough for the human stomach. Abundance of such water is more essential in the pasture—for the cows to drink while secreting milk that contains 87 per cent. of water—than it is in the daily-house, where a small amount of water will answer, if ice is used, and hence can more easily be obtained pure.