28 AGRICULTURE OF MAIXE. 



Presque Isle, South Paris, Skowhegan. Readfield, Madison and 

 New Gloucester, all of which draw stipends from the State. 

 At Lewiston and Waterville, also at South Paris and Presque 

 Isle, the exhibit of stock was large and of a satisfactory char- 

 acter. The competition in many classes was sufficiently hot so 

 that not only individual merit but also the knowledge of proper 

 development cut its figure. Such contests are of actual benefit 

 to the contestant and to the observer, but wdiere classes are only 

 half filled, the money and time are thrown away and the State 

 can ill afiford to pay stipends to such fairs. They simply fur- 

 nish an excuse and an opportunity for a lot of fakirs to get 

 together and jointly soak the crowd for all they can. 



COW^ TESTING ASSOCIATIONS. 



At the time of my assuming the duties of this office, I found 

 in existence four active cow testing associations and four that 

 had been in existence but were then dormant. These associa- 

 tions had been very much exploited in the public press and es- 

 pecially in the agricultural press and I turned to them with a 

 great deal of interest every spare moment of my time in order 

 to determine for my own satisfaction of just how much impor- 

 tance they were. 



After a careful study of them, I am prepared to endorse 

 some of the things that have been said about them and any 

 community that is so situated as to have a commercial outlet 

 for their product at a profit may essentially increase that profit 

 by an association. If it has not a profitable commercial outlet 

 a cow testing association will not of its own accord make one. 

 The proper attitude for dairymen to take is that ordinary dairy- 

 men with ordinary cows are entitled to make a living and that 

 a superior dairyman with superior cows ought to make big 

 money. Superiority in any other calling is rewarded. In law, 

 in medicine, in business, in baseball, the man who accomplishes 

 things beyond the ordinary is richly rewarde 1 for his accom- 

 plishment but in dairying if a man complains, "I am not 

 making a living,'" his agricultural instructors at once say, "The 

 fault is entirely yours," yet no one ever hears of a doctor diat 

 is not making a living or a lawyer, even though every patient 

 he looks at dies and every case in court is lost. 



