l6o AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



small, in fact almost nothing, and at the end of the year, each of 

 the thirty members would know the amount of milk and butter 

 that each cow had produced, with an outlay of but one dollar 

 per cow. 



In Denmark, where the idea originated in 1895, it has grown 

 from two associations with forty-seven members and 834 cows, 

 to over one thousand associations with over twenty-two thou- 

 sand members and over 300,000 cows in 1906, or almost one-half 

 the entire number of dairymen and cows in the Kingdom. The 

 averasfe herds in ten associations for five vears have increased 

 the milk production from 16 to 1506 pounds per cow and the 

 butter production from 13 to 63 pounds per cow. 



These results were obtained in a country where the average 

 production per cow was very nearly double that in the State of 

 Maine at the beginning. What, then, could be accomplished 

 here ? 



A committee of the Vermont Dairymen's Association says in 

 relation to the history and growth of the movement, as follows : 



"In 1895 members of a local cattle breeders' association in 

 A^ejen, Denmark, organized for the purpose of learning, and pos- 

 sibly increasing, the productiveness of their dairy herds, compris- 

 ing some three hundred cows. They found the milk and butter 

 yields rather light as compared with the cost of feeds, and that 

 the margin of profit was not satisfactory. The farmers realized 

 that, in order to increase the productiveness of their herds, they 

 must ascertain the yield of the individual animals. This might 

 be costly, and in some cases even impracticable, for the farmer 

 to carry on single-handed, but on the co-operative plan the cost 

 to the individual would be slight. So they set to work to use 

 scales and fat tests at regular intervals, and carefully to keep 

 records of all details connected with the work. The movement 

 was watched with interest and a number of new associations of a 

 similar nature were formed each succeeding year. 



The by-laws adopted by the first association have been largely 

 copied. They cover a statement of the objects of the association 

 and provisions as to membership and withdrawal, assessment of 

 expense and collection, choice of board of management, and as 

 to meetings, voting, etc. The rule relating to the operations of 

 the person in whose charge the work is placed is of especial inter- 

 est. It reads: 



