358 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



factory profitable. Mr, Willard stated that it was desirable that 

 there sliould not be less than three hundred ; that a factory, with 

 the necessary expenses attending it, cannot be successfully carried 

 on with a less number of cows to supply it than 300 ; with 500 it 

 can be' made very successful and remunerative ;. perhaps still more 

 so with 800 ; nor has it been found to be good policy that the num- 

 ber much exceed 1000 or 1200, for beyond this the establishment 

 becomes unwieldly ; two factories with 800 each would probably 

 do better than one with 1600 cows. Mr. Willard regards our region 

 as very well adapted to dairy husbandry. 



Mr. D. H. Thing. I have been deeply interested in the lecture 

 on associated dairying. The subject has been so ably and thor- 

 oughly discussed that I wish to say but a single word, and that 

 upon one point. There can be no doubt that one of the greatest 

 benefits to be expected from this source is the good that will result 

 to the wives and daughters of the farmers, by being relieved from 

 the care and drudgery of dairying. Supposing for a moment that 

 the time, care and labor now bestowed by the women of our State 

 upon the making and care of butter and cheese should be expended 

 in improving the minds of themselves and their families, in beauti- 

 fying and adorning their homes, in cultivating a flower garden, in 

 performing all those little acts and amenities of society which go 

 to make existence here pleasant, how soon should we see a marked 

 and decided improvement in the community. The farmer's life is 

 a life of toil, but the life of the farmer's wife, who has the care of 

 half a dozen or more cows, is a life of toil, drudgery and isolation. 

 While our business calls us often from, home, her's keeps her at 

 home ; and if she does leave Rome for a few days to attend any of 

 our fairs or festivals, it is only to go home and work so much the 

 harder for a week to get the machinery to running smoothly again, 

 that she thinks she won't go again. You may hardly suppose it 

 by my looks, but I have a good wife at home, and why she is not 

 here, resting from her labors and enjoying herself like her truant 

 husband, is what ? Just these cows at home, and nothing else. 

 They can't be put off till to-morrow, or next week ; there is the 

 milk to set every night and morning, the cream to be taken off, the 

 pans and pails to waslj, scour, scald and dry, the churning to be 

 seen to, (the women don't churn in Kennebec, and I hope not in 

 Piscataquis), the churn to be taken care of, butter to work every 

 day, &c., &c. Now, don't tell me to hire a girl, especially a dairy- 

 maid, for you must know that a girl now-a-days will turn up her 



