DAIR^^ MEETING. 147 



This shows what we do when we export grain to Denmark 

 and Holland. Which is better economy for American agricul- 

 ture, to lose this prosperity, or convert it ourselves into butter 

 containing little or no fertility at 25 or more times the price 

 per pound? 



At the beginning of this article you have read how prosper- 

 ous and independent the cotton planter, general farmer anJ 

 grain raiser in different sections have become. But what of the 

 dairy farmer of whom no mention was made? 



The Dane is the best farmer in the world according to some 

 authorities and the secret of his success is intensive dairy farm- 

 ing. Denmark changed in thirty years from the lowest to the 

 highest agricultural country when she changed from excessive 

 grain farming to dairying. Now within only a few years she 

 is considered the most prosperous agricultural country in 

 the world and is exporting butter to England, South America 

 and the Philippines, her butter receipts increasing over 17 fold 

 in thirty years. She sold in 1912 $40,ocx),ooo worth of dairy 

 products to Great Britain alone. 



If this is the prosperity we here in New England wish for, 

 then live stock farming and especially dairying should form an 

 important part. 



A problem faces the dairyman of this State and to solve it 

 he must be a close student of all the principles of dairying. He 

 must understand that dairying is an occupation requiring brains, 

 thought and skill ; that he must have efficient cows, economi- 

 cally fed, and well cared for, that he must practice a definite 

 system of improvement. 



Milk production is like a vast chain made up of many links 

 and the final result is no stronger than the weakest links which 

 limit the profits. 



The chief obstacle to progressive dairying is carrying it on 

 in a slipshod manner without a well balanced, intensive method 

 needed in producing milk profitably. Alany dairymen attempt 

 to make money without the application of business principles. 

 It would be unwise for any man to conduct a losing business 

 when fully aware of what he is doing yet men can be found 

 trying to support a family with a herd of cows utterly unable 

 to return them a profit. That this is a universal fact is shown 



