DAIRY, SEED IMPROVEMENT, STOCK BREEDERS MEETINGS. 327 



the State Granges, and the Extension Departments of the New 

 England states are cooperating in making a comprehensive 

 study of the market milk situatiotm in New England. 



The cause of this investigation is the astonishing fact that 

 the number of cows in the New England states is continually 

 decreasing. The number of cows in Massachusetts in 1906 

 was 181,818; in 1913 the number of cows in New Hampshire 

 decreased in every county except one. Other New England 

 states report similar conditions. The decrease in the number of 

 cows is principally due to the fact that on the average the pro- 

 duction of milk for market has proven unpro'fitable. It has 

 proven unprofitable principally : ( i ) because the production 

 of milk per cow is too low; (2) the cost O'f production of 

 milk has been continually increasing; (3) and the price paid 

 for milk has not kept up with the cost of production. 



In New England the prices for dairy cows during the past 

 ten years have increased about 70 per cent. The cow which 

 then sold for $70 is today selling for about $120. 



The cost of labor has increased, not only the actual wages 

 paid to hired men, but also the cost of board has increased. 

 In fact, every item entering into the cost of producing milk is 

 considerably higher today than ten years ago. While the in- 

 creases in cost of feed is about 45 per cent, the increase in 

 price of cows 70 per cent, the increase in the price of milk to the 

 farmer has, during the same period, only been 20 per cent. 



The price paid for milk has not kept up with the cost of pro- 

 duction because the milk contractors have been able to contin- 

 ually extend the territory from which they obtain the milk 

 supply. If a milk conractor can' buy milk cheaper in New 

 Hampshire and Vermont than in Massachusetts, and he can 

 get all he wants, he will buy his milk in New Hampshire or 

 Vermont. A distance of from 50 to 100 miles further is of 

 little interest to him. The dealer offers the farmer a certain 

 price ; he does not ask him whether he is getting enough for 

 his milk to make a living. He expects the farmer to look out 

 for himself. The farmer when changing from selling butter- 

 fat to a creamery to selling whole milk to a milk dealer, changes 

 his methods of farming without considering all the conse- 

 quences. He finds himself without skim-milk and butter-milk. 

 He quits raising calves and begins to buy cows to replenish his 



