Il8 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



RESPONSE. 

 By R. Alden, President Maine Dairymen's Association. 



It is very gratifying to us as members of the Maine Dairy- 

 men's Association to receive this generous and cordial wel- 

 come which you have extended to us ever since our arrival in 

 your beautiful village. The reception you gave us last evening 

 was a high tribute to the dairymen of Maine and should have a 

 tendency to elevate the dairy interests of our State. May you 

 all feel assured that we fully realize and appreciate the great 

 amount of work that has been done by the people of your town 

 and county to make this meeting a grand success. At the close 

 of the year, when the crops are all harvested and the stock com- 

 fortably housed in our warm stables, what can be more bene- 

 ficial to us than to meet together and listen to the best thoughts 

 that research and investigation have developed in our business? 

 Are we taking advantage of what is being done by the experi- 

 ment stations all over our broad land and by the deepest think- 

 ing minds to aid and instruct us in our dairy industry ? 



]\Iy mind is carried back to six years ago, when our Associa- 

 tion was first organized, and I can but feel gratified and proud 

 of the growth and progress we have made. It has been accom- 

 plished by the united efforts of our dairymen, and today we have 

 one of the best associations in this country. 



It gives me great pleasure as chairman of your committee 

 chosen at our last annual meeting to formulate a bill asking the 

 legislature for a dairy instructor, to report to you that we were 

 entirely successful in carrying out the wishes of the members 

 of our Association. The bill was presented and given a unani- 

 mous passage, appropriating $3,000 per year. Commissioner 

 Gilman judiciously appointed S. C. Thompson of Winterport to 

 fill the position of dairy instructor, and he has done some very 

 valuable work along the lines of improvement of our dairy inter- 

 ests, especially by getting the creamery men organized and 

 united in working together to improve our dairy products. We 

 regret that ^Ir. Thompson is unable to be present at this meet- 

 ing, but we are pleased to know that he is at one of our leading 

 dairy schools fitting himself for the position he has accepted. 



