VERMONT DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 133 



THURSDAY P. M., JANUARY 7, 1904. 



President Bruce. — Ladies and Gentlemen: As it is past two o'clock 

 and we are obliged to commence in order to get through for the four 

 o'clock train that leaves over the Rutland road, and 4:30 train over the 

 Central Vermont, I will not wait any longer, but will introduce Mr. 

 Van Dresser, whom you all know, who will speak to you on the 

 "Selection and Conformation of the Dairy Cow." 



Mr. Van Dresser. — Mr. Chairman and Brother Farmers: I am in 

 touch with the dairy cow; I am in touch with the farmer of to-day, 

 because I am a farmer myself, from my early boyhood I have never 

 done anything else but farm. I know what farmers have got to contend 

 with; I know the thought that is required for the dairy business to 

 make a profit out of the enterprise, for that reason I am here. I am 

 here to accomplish a purpose, and I hope that I may do it. We have got 

 more or less to contend with, we people of the East. You would be 

 surprised to know what a competitor the State of Minnesota is. A 

 few years ago they raised nothing but wheat in that State. I have 

 been in every large town in the State of Minnesota to speak upon the 

 dairy interests of that State. A few years ago they thought it was 

 impossible to raise wheat any longer; they could not do it with profit; 

 they must change their tactics, and they went into the dairy business. 

 It was a new enterprise and they had no ruts to be lifted out of, and in 

 ten years they have won laurels for themselves and laurels for the State. 

 In the Paris exhibition they walked off with the premium of the world, 

 and their butter to-day in London markets brings two cents a pound 

 more than any other that they compete with. 



So you see last year in Freeborn county alone they shipped to that 

 city in competition with eastern butter $100,000 worth per month, 

 $1,200,000 worth per year. Thirty-seven factories never closed their 

 doors a single day during the year. That means something. That means 

 that we must wake up to our duty. 



I am in touch with the dairy cow because she paid for a home for my 

 brother and me. I have a right to love her and respect her. It is said 

 that no human being receives credit for more than two original ideas 

 during his entire life. The mind is developed by the interchange of 

 thought, by the interchange of ideas, by coming together as we have 

 this afternoon for the purpose of talking matters over, pertaining to 

 our business, and in that way new veins of thought are developed, new 

 enterprises engaged in and we are better prepared to fight the battle of 

 life as the days come and go. That is the object of the great grange 



