164 AGRICUIvTURE OF MAINE. 



ment is to be made and to this end good results have been ac- 

 compUshed by giving him as much information as possible. 



This educational side of inspection for the farmer, this 

 awakening to the need of better cows, better feeding and better 

 management of the dairy has been too often overlooked. The 

 hardest dairyman to get to improve is usually the one whose 

 profits are least. Attention to the details is a requisite in any 

 business and decidedly so in the dairy business. It is attention 

 to the details that covmts, for in this way profits are increased', 

 making the necessary sanitary improvements possible. 



To visit the farmer and criticize the methods on his farm, is 

 not always a pleasant position for the Inspector to be placed in, 

 but if the farmer is the right sort of a man, if he stands for 

 progress and is ready to be helped in any way, when his mis- 

 takes are pointed out to him, he will say that he will try to do 

 better. In many cases when a slight mistake is called to his 

 attention and remedied, it will be of great assistance to him. 

 It is a great satisfaction to the Insnector, after he has called the 

 attention of a farmer to some minor details that have been 

 neglected, to find on his next visit that the farmer will say, — 

 "Those little points you called to my attention have helped me 

 greatly; I had thought those things were too small to be of any 

 importance." 



The analysis of milk samples is reported in the Quarterly 

 Bulletins of the Department of /Agriculture, and the farmer 

 soon sees that it is for his own interest that the milk that is 

 reported against his name should be of the highest quality; 

 should be clean and up to standard. He cannot aft'ord to have 

 any reports of milk that is below standard or dirty, because 

 the moment the public, through the newspapers, or by inquiry, 

 see that report, that milkman is bound to lose customers. The 

 public need education along this line in the worst sort of way. 

 The public are for the most part ignorant of what constitutes 

 good milk. They think of milk not enough as a food but too 

 much as a beverage. Some will say, "We have had milk for 

 dozens of years and no thought has ever been given to the 

 bacteria count, or to whether it is dirty or clean. It does not 

 seem to change, it tastes about the same." They only know it 

 by the name milk. The pulilic should know just how^ many 

 bacteria are dangerous to health and whether the bacteria are 

 the disease producing kind or not. As Dr. Evans has told you. 



