174 AGRlCULTURi: OF MAINE. 



this year. Perhaps you will say that is a wasteful practice, and 

 1 am not sure, myself, whether I should not cut it and put it into 

 the barn. 



It is along this line of raising clover that we are going to solve 

 the question of raising protein, and are going to compete with 

 the farmer who is growing alfalfa. 



DAIRY LAWS AND THEIR ENFORCEMENT. 



By Geo. 'M. Whitaker, Dairy Inspector U. S. Department of 



Agriculture. 



(Stenographic Copy.) 



I am here today by order of the Agricultural Department at 

 Washington, to bring to you its greetings and best wishes, and 

 to convey to you its deep interest in ]\Iaine dairying and the 

 Maine Dairymen's Association. At your meeting a year ago^ 

 I notice by the printed proceedings you adopted a resolution 

 complimentary to ]\Iajor Alvord, the Chief of the National 

 Dairy Division. He would have been glad to be here today, and 

 to thank you personally and extend to you his congratulations 

 at the success of this pleasant and profitable meeting. But the 

 National Department must be represented in many places at the 

 same time, and he is attending a meeting similar to this with the 

 dairymen of Pennsylvania. 



Dairying seems to me the most important subdivision of agri- 

 culture for three reasons : First, on account of the magnitude of 

 the business. The dairy products of the country are said to be 

 worth as much annually as the gold production of the world. 

 The census places dair\-ing in a prominent position, and if the 

 statistics were analyzed it would be found that perhaps nothing 

 except cotton ranks ahead of dairy products. In the official fig- 

 ures meat production outranks dairying, but meat production 

 includes pork and beef, which are entirely separate and distinct 

 specialties. Corn and hay outrank dairying, but that to a great 

 extent is a duplication, for much corn and hay are produced for 

 feeding dairy animals, beef animals or hogs. So that when we 

 look at the exact facts of the case, the product of the more than 

 20,000,000 cows in this country, with the investment in farms,. 



