20 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



The trouble with many of us farmers in the past has been 

 that in reckoning the profits on the farm we have been indined 

 to the idea that our own work should not be charged in the 

 expense of production, and this is especially true in the case of 

 the good housewife. If the dairyman cares for his cows in a 

 business and efficient way, he is entitled to pay for his services 

 as a business man, and there should be enough profit to pay for 

 the services rendered by his wife also. 



All the testimony at these meetings seemed to show that the 

 dairy farmers were working hard in the summer, raising a 

 large amount of roughage on their farms and selling it to their 

 cows. Provided they had cows of high average production, 

 they were getting a fair market price for these farm crops, by 

 charging their own labor at the same rate as the hired man's 

 labor. Now in order to remedy these conditions and give the 

 dairy business a boom, there must be some means devised for 

 cheaper and more efficient methods of transportation and dis- 

 tribution, or the consumer must pay more. I hope the first 

 method may be worked out. 



Whole milk is by all odds the cheapest food on the market, 

 and would be if the consumer paid ten or twelve cents per 

 quart, but anything that raises the price of a product has a ten- 

 dency to decrease the consumption and it would be a great mis- 

 fortune for the consumption of milk to be decreased. We would 

 rather educate the public to use more milk, as good milk is 

 always a healthful and cheap article of food. 



The evidence brought out at these meetings showed a wide 



range of cost as follows : 



Cost of feed $60.00 to $80.00 



Cost of labor • 30.00 to 37.00 



Cost of bedding 5.00 to 7.00 



Keep of bull, per cow 2.00 to 3.00 



Interest on money invested in cows. 3.00 to 4.00 



Taxes on cows and barn i .25 to 2.00 



Barn rent 1.50 to 2.00 



Insurance, per cow .40 to .75 



Medicine, salt, tools, utensils, etc... 1.25 to 2.00 



Depreciation 7.50 to 15.00 



1 1 1.90 to 152.75 



CREDIT. 



Manure $15.00 to $20.00 



Calf . 2.00 to 5.00 $17.00 to $25.00 



94.90 to 127.75 



