134 AGRICULTURE Of MAINE. 



Under the plan of living today the home necessities are largely 

 supplied by others, who can make them in quantity with much 

 less expenditure of time and energy than it w^ould require for us 

 to produce the same things. But we must buy these things and 

 in order to do so we must sell the products of the farm in quan- 

 tity and at a price sufficient to give us a surplus on the business. 

 The price end of dairying has been very satisfactory the past 

 year and still we hear some farmers complaining that the busi- 

 ness does not pay. Whether this condition holds here in Maine 

 I do not know. I hope not, but I do know it is true in many- 

 dairy sections. Good prices should mean profit to the producer ; 

 but if it costs more to make a product than it is worth on the 

 market, the best of prices will only mean loss. 



I do not know that I can point out the causes of this loss in 

 some of our dairying in a way that will meet with your approval, 

 but will do the best I can to make clear my idea of where the 

 trouble lies. Looking at the business from the farmers' view- 

 point it would seem that the main trouble is, he fails to realize 

 the changed conditions of dairying although he does realize that 

 it is constantly becoming more of a complex problem to make 

 this business a paying proposition. Why is this so? I believe 

 it is because the dairyman does not understand that his business 

 is a manufacturing enterprise and must be run on the same care- 

 ful business principles that apply to the manufacture of cotton- 

 cloth or anything of that character. 



Take the case of the man who starts out in the manufacture 

 of knit goods. First he determines what class of goods appears 

 to be in greatest demand. Then he gets the latest machine, that 

 will do that particular work most economically from the labor 

 point of view. With this settled, he takes up the question of raw 

 material, so that he may get that kind that will give him the 

 most finished product with the least waste. He knows that if he 

 does not do everything he can to keep the cost of production 

 down he will not be able to compete with other people in the 

 same line of business in the markets of the world. Do the dairy- 

 men study their business in the same careful way? Some of 

 them do, I hope everyone here does, but I am sorry to say that 

 there are quite a good many in the state of New York that do- 

 not realize the importance of knowing all about every detail of 

 their business. If they want a mowing machine or any of that 

 class of labor-saving machinery on the farm, they look very 



