Education of the Farmer. 455 



There were two prominent causes that influenced that retrograde 

 movement. The first and most important in the start, was from a 

 large class of manufacturers who had gradually argued themselves 

 up to the point of believing that, because they had succeeded so well, 

 they could lower the quality of their cheese, and that people would 

 buy it just as well. It had become quite popular to skim the night's 

 milk, especially in the fall of the year, as good prices were received 

 for this semi-skim cheese, and, with the butter as an extra product 

 thus increasing the net income. Next came the argument, "If 

 wo can do this in the fall, why not through the whole 

 year, and thus make our business more profitable ; we can 

 put in a little more moisture and the consumer won't know the 

 difference." During this same time Canada was working to build 

 up her dairy interest, and those at the head were wise enough to 

 see that the opportunities were much better with first-class goods. 

 When New York cheese that was skimmed a little and held sonic 

 extra moisture came in contact with the well-made, full cream 

 Canadian on the English market, there could be only one result. 

 The Englishman knows a good thing when he sees it, and is always 

 looking for the best, consequently he took the Canadian. This 

 short-sighted policy followed by the New York dairymen gave the 

 Canadian the opportunity, and the result was that, in 1890, only 

 ten years after we were at the top we had lost half of our export 

 trade. Prices declined rapidly, and the outlook for the dairy 

 farmers was not encouraging. During this time some of the 

 thinking men connected with this association were studying the 

 conditions of the business, and their observations convinced them 

 that if something was not done, and that very soon, the dairy 

 interests of New York would be practically destroyed. The result 

 of their thought was the establishment of the State Dairy Com- 

 mission in 18S-1. The outcome shows that it was a step in the 

 right direction, and the wonderful increase in the consumption 

 of milk in the cities and villages of the State has proved the wis- 

 dom of the work. Encouraged by the progress made in that 

 direction, in 1888 then was brought forward and passed the dairy 

 instruction law, and I wish that it were possible that two of the 

 men that were largely responsible for the passage of that law 

 could come back long enough to see the splendid exhibit of butter 

 and cheese we have here to-day. I am sure they would say we 

 acted wisely at that time. I refer to the late Dairy Commissioner 

 J. Iv. Brown and the late Col. F. D. Curtis, both of them men who 



