132 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



between the food cost of the butter, which we have seen was, accord- 

 ing to surroundings, either twenty and one-half, or seventeen and 

 one-sixth cents per pound, and its selling value. 



And, what is the selling value of Jersey butter? In discus- 

 sing this question from a practical standpoint, I do not think 

 it best to reach out to those possible prices that are obtained 

 by a few expert producers and salesmen, and claim them to be 

 within the reach of large numbers of less favored workers. I will say 

 this however : In sendingour Jersey butter to Boston, we have always 

 received a higher price than the best "Western Creamery butter was 

 selling at. When first placing the butter product of over twenty 

 Jerseys, comprising the College Farm herd, in the Bangor market, 

 it was with difHculty that I was able to find a dealer who appreciated 

 the idea of handling it at a price above the regular market. I was 

 told that the consumers were not educated up to fancy butter, and 

 that ours could not be sold at an advance. But by giving the public 

 an opportunity to test and compare it, we soon had read}^ sales, and 

 for four years our wholesale price averaged not far from thirty cents 

 per pound, and we were constantly far behind the orders of our 

 dealers. Bar Harbor was an outlet for a few months each year at 

 net 40 cents per lb. wholesale. In order to secure remunerative 

 prices, we must be able to guarantee uniformity as well as high 

 quality' in every pound sent out. 



The superlative excellence of Jersey butter is a never ending 

 theme for praise with those who are familiar with it. We are told 

 that in other countries it is not uncommon for epicures to eat at a 

 single sitting a pound of freshly made, lightly salted Jersey butter. 



While I hope this may never be true of our own people, it is 

 nevertheless an established fact where consumers are supplied with 

 an article, freshly made, lightly salted, waxy, firm, and filled with 

 delicious flavors, that it is eagerly and greedily devoured. Reasoned 

 from this standpoint, the demand for Jersey butter is not likely to 

 diminish. 



I do not claim that the business of butter dairying is a quick or 

 easy road to wealth. The profits are only moderate and there is 

 exacting work all the way along. Why, in a measure, will not the 

 Jersey cow do for the people of New England what she has so nobl}' 

 done for her originators in her island home ? Our natural advao- 

 tages are not surpassed. We have a health-giving climate and a 

 naturally productive soil, and are close at the doors of the best 



