yS agricui^ture: o^ maine. 



WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4- 



BETTER METHODS. 

 By Leon S. Me;rrili,, Solon, State Dairy Inspector. 



A quaint old Yankee farmer once said "I guess why I haven't 

 succeeded any better in dairying is because I haven't set my face 

 that way." This thought so tersely put, explains in large 

 measure many of the failures we meet all along life's way. It 

 also suggests the reason for so many successful lives. 



Better Methods — a subject broad in its application yet preg- 

 nant with meaning to each individual. The business man is 

 reaching out for them. For him they mean economy of time 

 and money. They are applicable to the smallest as well as the 

 largest business. Educators along all lines are giving this mat- 

 ter much thought. And thus is it everywhere ; the merchant, the 

 manufacturer, the physician, the farmer, the whole progressive 

 world today is looking and striving for something better. 



In that splendid exhibit of dairy animals at the National Dairy 

 Show, recently held in Chicago, one could see the results of the 

 great struggle for excellence that has been taking place. In the 

 machinery exhibit could be seen marked evidence of keen com- 

 petition. The striving for improvement is incessantly going on. 

 We go into the markets with our money and we reward the 

 men who have given us greater excellence either in animals or 

 machinery. We appreciate these especially, for they have visi- 

 ble form and they appeal to the eye, while all about us are better 

 methods, equally valuable, but lacking apparent tangibility we 

 often pass them unheeded. Largely imitators are we, lacking 

 only the presence and association of leaders to make our lives 

 more successful. We read of improved methods in culture of 

 grains and grasses, yet too often we wait for someone in our 

 immediate vicinity to show us the way. We hear of dairy cows 

 of large capacity and yet content ourselves with the 150 to 175 

 pound cow, because — why, because we haven't set our face that 

 way. 



Great progress has been made in the past and is still being 

 made and yet the vines and the trees are crying constantly for 



