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The death in Frederiksted yesterday is announced of M?ss Elizabeth Heath- ley, native, and an old and respected res- ident of that town. ; i TR U R .R RS TSTR Open Letter to the Edi- ° ° ~. to. “St. Croix Avis In “'St. Croix Avis’’ “ar Monday 10th inst., you stated: ‘‘For if milk was worth 16 <ents a quart, when the rate of exchange was 26%, it is an arithme- tical conclusion, that it is wor.h only twelve and twelve "thirteenth, say 13 cents. now the exchange is 21%.”" - Now I am very much interested in milk prices and therefore Kkindly ask you to publish, what milk will be worth, shen we attain our old rate, 5% ex- change: -but '‘arichmetical’’, please! Respectfully, Yours truly, C. LAWAETZ. “‘Little La Grange’’,- May 11th, 1920. West F'nd News, May 12th. Reply to Mr. C. Lawaetz, Little La Grange. On the basis of the calculation by which the price of milk is shown to be 12 pants aquart, with an exchange rate of 21%, it may safely be stated that the price should sink to three and one thir- teenth cents, with an exchange of 5%. Lest it be overlooked, the fact should be bornzin mind that it was the deliv- erers who urged the regulation of the milk price according to that paid in U. S. currency for cattle, and if such a method was approved when it worked to the benefit of the deliverer it seems only equitable that it should remain in force even though its application may re- dound to the aavantage of the consumer. Moreover, it is an indisputable point of reasoning that if the currency in which the price of goods is quoted assumes a higher value, prices should be changed accordingly. If there 'is anything not quite clear in what has beea advanced in this connection the editor will be pleased to furnish addition- a) xplanation where necessary. EDITOR "'ST. CROIX AVIS’'. sSome Hints For Improving The Dairy Industry. The present time seems opportune for come suggestions to Dairymen, for im- proving the Dairy industry and placing it on a more prcfitable basis. Unless the profits from dairying are good, it is likely that the irdustry will receive lit- tle interest. Increasing the price of milk is one way of making the industry more profitable, but it is not the best way, though it may be necessary as a temporary expedient. The best 571 kIIX ANAS way to make the industry ‘more profita- ble, is by employing more scien.ific me- thods of production. " In the first place. it is plain that thc cows of the island, are not producing enough milk. There are two ways of increasing the milk production. (1) by bet‘ar feeding o the animals (2% by better breeding of. the animals. The latter method is the most economical and will be considered first. As far as I can gather che evidence from the Dairy men, an average cow in this island gives only 600 to 700 lbs. of milk per year, besides raising a calf worth $20.00 to $30.00. Probably the calf is allowed to get two-thirds of the milk and the dairy- man takes one-thir®. Assuming this to be the case, an average cow here gives 1,800 to 2,100 lbs. of milk yearly when fed on grass and water only. A really good cow ought to produce some 4,000 - 5,000 Ibs. of mik on the same feed. Very highly bred cows in the United States, produce 20,000 lbs. or more of milk yearly, but of cou'se such milk yields are obtained by special feeding. The system which ought to be adorted in order to improve the breed for milk- ing purposes, is briefly as follows: 1. Separate the herd into 2 parts, (1) A Dairy Herd composed of a few cows, say 10 or 20% of the flock—the very best cows of the herd must of course be chosen. (2) A Mecagt Herd composed of the balance. The Meat Herd should be kept in pasture, on the poorest land of the Estate, and .no milk taken from them. The ordinary flock bull of the Estate should be kept with thistherd. If it is desired eventually to have ‘only a milk herd, these cattle can be gradu- ally butchered off, as the milk flock increases in numbers. Procure a Bull of first class pedigree, of a first class mrilking strain, say Hol- stein, Guernsey or Ayrshire, and keep him with the selected cows. When the calves of the best ‘cows reach maturity, and give birth ito the first calf, separate the calf from the mother. Suckle the calf by hand 'vith whele milk and then skim milk. Weigh the milk from each cow senarately every day, and keep a record of the amount for the whole pe- riod of lactation. Keep the cows with the best milking record, and the calves of these cows, for breeding with the pedigree Bull. In a few years the milk production per cow, by this means, can readily be doubled or trebled. These facts are probably well known to most of the Dairymen here, but they do not get busy making use of them—now is the time tc start when th:re is a good price for milk and a scarcity of produc- tior, all over the world. A start in “his direction has been made in St. Thomas, by a prominent Dairyman there—now is the time for St. Croix, to show herself not behind the Sister Island in enter- prise r. With pegard to the eecond method of improving the milk yield of cattle here, viz. by better fe@ding, 1 would offer the following suggestions. 1. Do not sell any cotton seed away from the Island, have it crushed and feed it to your dairy stock. If you can persuade your Cotton Ginner to import : delinting and seed crush- ing machine, you ecan then feed the cotton seed cake to your stock, and it will be better for them than the whole seed. One or two pounds of cot- ton seed per day per cow, will greatly help the milk flow. 2. Grow a crop of corn, and make the grain into meal, feoding about 2 Ibs. of meal per day per cow. The Agricul- tural Experiment Station has produced a variety of corn which gives large yields of grain, and a small quantity of this seed can be obtained fr2e by anyone applying for it. The seed should be sown in rows 34 ft. apart, and spaced Ift. apart in the rows. Grow Velvet Beans between the corn, and feed the crushed beans to your cows. One pound of beans per day per cow will be sufficient. Velvet Beans bear prolifically here and cost little to grow. Besides producing a crop of beans, the vines make an excellent fertiliser for the soil and by their luxuriant growth, keep down all weeds. A crop of velvet beans matures in about 4t) 5 months. They should be planted between the corn stalks, and preferably 1 or 2 weeks later than the corn. 4. Encourage the growth of blue-wis among your Guir.ea Grass, by collecting and scattering the seeds of this valuable leguminous plant in your pastures. 5. Grow a few acres of Elephant Grass on some of your best and flattest land. The ground should be prepared thoroughly for this grass by ploughing and harrowing. The grass is best planted in rows 3 to 34[t. apart, the cuttings of grass being spaced 24 to 3ft apart in the rows. Elephant Grass grows quicker and makes more fodder per acre here, than any other grass, and further it makes good growth even in dry weather. It has Guinea (rass thorcughly beaten in this respect. Until the gross is - stablish- ed it should be kept clean by weeding. Cuttings of this grass can be obtained by anybody on fapplication to the Experi- ment Station. 6. It is a gnod plan to give cows at all times access to salt. Keep blocks of rock salt in places where the cows can readily get to lick them. 7. Erect a Silo on your Estate, in which you can store green fodder dur- ing the wet season and feed it to your stock 1n the dry weather. In this way you can be quite independent of the drought, and have as gooda milk sup- ply in the dry as in the wct weather. For full instruction as to how to erect and fill a silo, apply at the Experiment Station. LONGFIELD SMITH,