REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER. 7 



year. Samples of milk have been taken in all sections of the 

 State, and the Department has issued quarterly bulletins giving 

 the results of the analyses of these samples. The publicity that 

 is given to the work of the milk dealers in this way is doing and 

 has done much towards advancing the standard of our market 

 milk. The report of the agent in charge of this work, which 

 is included in this volume, will be of much interest. 



THE POUETRY INDUSTRY. 



Interest in the poultry industry is steadily increasing. This' 

 is one of the industries that never fails because of hard times 

 or low prices. Poultry has long been a side issue on the major- 

 ity of farms, but it is now becoming in many instances one of 

 the leading farm industries. 



The value of co-operation in this industry has been urged 

 by the Department and a circular on Co-operative Poultry Pro- 

 ducers' Associations for Maine was issued in August. The 

 September number of the Quarterly Bulletin was devoted to 

 a branch of the industry which has not received the attention 

 it should command — the marketing of poultry products — and 

 the large number of requests for this bulletin indicate that the 

 farmers all over the State appreciate the information it con- 

 tains. 



farmers' institutes. 



A good interest has been shown in the farmers' institutes 

 this season. Excellent speakers have been secured, and the 

 interested, enthusiastic audiences show that the farmers are 

 realizing more and more the value of these meetings. 



The farmers' institute is one of the official agents for rural 

 betterment. It is an avenue for the distribution of the scien- 

 tific truth and knowledge of agriculture which are constantly 

 being discovered. Some one has said that if the knowledge of 

 agricultural operations now in the possession of mankind were 

 distributed and intelligently applied by the farmers of the 

 United States, the average of agricultural production in all 

 crops would at once be doubled, with a steady and continued 

 increase in the productive power of the soil. 



The perpetuation of the farmers' institute system through- 

 out the United States is a proof that it fills a want in the agri- 



