156 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



the Stable so constructed that the dust and chaff will be kept off 

 from the cow's back? There will be less dust if the stable is 

 sheathed. 



I think we have never had a session when so many creamery- 

 men were present. I believe the officers of the association 

 should so plan the program next year that a sufficient amount 

 of time may be guaranteed for the discussion of the papers 

 presented by them. We want to co-operate with the Creamery- 

 men's Association, which handles millions and millions of 

 dollars worth of the milk and cream produced by the farmers 

 of our State. 



Mr. Johnson. I have been listening with a great deal of 

 interest to what has been said. I fully agree with Mr. Merrill 

 in what he said in regard to allowing the creamerymen a chance 

 to have a little voice in this matter, and I want to say that I 

 think the Creamerymen's Association is in a position to do more 

 in regard to the improvement of the product than any other 

 association connected with the work, for the simple reason that 

 the creameryman is in touch with the consumer. And another 

 thing which is more important, in my opinion, than that, — he 

 is in direct touch with the producer. The most important thing 

 to be taken into consideration is the place where this product 

 is produced. Begin with the barns, with the stables. They 

 are, in my judgment, the source of more trouble in this direc- 

 tion than any other place, and one thing that I have been think- 

 ing of is the manner of reaching the peoj^le from which the 

 most of this trouble comes. Now the farmers that attend this 

 association, we will say, are not the ones that are to blame for 

 the bad products that are put out from the creameries. The 

 farmers that are attending this meeting are those who are pro- 

 ducing the best articles. Those who are producing the poor 

 product are the ones you do not touch. There ought to be 

 something done along a little different line to get in touch with 

 those people. If you cannot get them out to the meeting get in 

 touch with them through printed matter in some form, to a 

 greater extent than you do. Of course we get a great deal of 

 this through the press and to a certain extent through circular 

 matter sent from the department, but I do not think we get 

 enough of that matter distributed among the patrons where it 

 is most needed, and I feel that along that line there is a chance 



