244 agriculture; of maine;. 



With the opening of the west, this option was removed and 

 they were gradually restricted to the production of milk, which 

 resulted in a yield of milk vastly in excess of the needs of the 

 community. The keen competition thus developed, in connec- 

 tion with the fact that but two fundamentals of dairying were 

 then known, inevitably resulted in a very poor milk when con- 

 trasted with milk of the standard now deemed desirable. 



The antiquity of these two fundamental factors was such 

 that in recent times they have been rarely considered and their 

 presence, if at all recognized, was reflected by a subconscious 

 feeling rather than a keen realization of the great economic 

 force they exert upon farming. This was so as they were grad- 

 ually superseded by more refined problems, such as the breeding, 

 feeding, etc., of cows, which, although of vast importance and 

 productive of great advances, nevertheless are not strictly fun- 

 damental factors. Thus their loss to view has been of little 

 significance and little or no injury resulted therefrom so long 

 as the fundamentals were but two in number. 



However, with the discovery of the third — the relation of 

 milk supplies to public health — they again occupy the fore- 

 ground and should always receive due consideration in all dis- 

 cussions seeking to establish and define means and methods for 

 the production of wholesome and reasonably safe milk supplies. 

 To do otherwise must inevitably result in unjust criticism of 

 dairymen, for, bear in mind, up to the discovery of the third 

 fundamental factor, first sensed about 25 years ago and still 

 not well defined, the problem of the dairymen was but twofold, 

 viz., to concentrate crude products, and make manure. 



That this task was well done is abundantly proven by the 

 great progress made in breeding, feeding and milk yields. Stress 

 upon these two factors, however, is now imperative because the 

 third factor projects new conditions and methods which can be 

 only attained through additional risks, labor and expense. 



Furthermore, it is desirable to dwell upon these facts for the 

 reason that the discussion of milk supplies in relation to public 

 health must, in the nature of events, be led by sanitarians and 

 medical men who, as a rule, know little of the great economic 

 importance of the two fundamentals first mentioned. Nor 

 should this be placed to their discredit as their training has not 

 embraced this field of investigation. Consequently the zeal dis- 



