456 Bureau of Farmers' Institutes. 



had the best interest of the New York State dairymen at heart. I 

 think many of the dairymen here will be willing to concede that 

 the painstaking work done by M. T. Morgan and the late E. A. 

 Ayers in the first year of the operation of that law had quite a 

 little to do with the present high reputation of Jefferson county 

 cheese. 



We have come together to-day to discuss this work and try to 

 find a solution of some of the difficult problems we meet. One 

 question to take up will be, can we improve on the best work done 

 by the up-to-date, careful manufacturer ? In some ways I believe 

 we can; in others, perhaps not. Another question is how to bring 

 the whole manufactured product up to the standard of the best. 

 I think you will agree with me that the off-flavored, mushy cheese 

 and the poor skim cheese lessen consumption and tend to lower 

 prices. The poor butter of which there are large quantities yet 

 made, not only lessens consumption, but gives the renovated butter 

 and oleomargarine manufacturers an opportunity which they 

 otherwise would not have to dispose of their products. I have 

 been interviewing some of the retailers in villages where I have 

 been lately, and they tell me that they cannot obtain good butter 

 in quantities sufficient to supply their trade. I asked one man 

 why he did not buy in the New York markets. He said, " If I 

 buy there in sufficient quantities to make the express charges 

 reasonable, the last of it gets stale before I can dispose of it. 

 I have no refrigerator, but a good cellar, and butter which has been 

 kept in cold storage will not keep with me." Now, these are all 

 questions that have to do with putting the dairy business of the 

 State on a profitable, sound basis. I do not expect we can solve 

 all of them, but if we can give some suggestions whereby less poor 

 butter and cheese will be made the coming year, it will be a gain 

 in the right direction, and will pay for holding this meeting. 



Thanks to the work of the scientists who have taken up this dairy 

 question within the last few years, we know very much more about 

 the hard problems to-day than formerly, but there are many ques- 

 tions that are not settled. They have shown that the physical 

 and chemical changes which take place in the milk the first day or 

 two, as to taste and odor, are due to the activity of minute plants, 

 and that of the large number found in the milk, very many of 

 them are useful and only a few make the mischief. They have 

 shown how these hurtful organisms can be counteracted by con- 

 trolling conditions which are almost wholly outside the animal. 

 This is all a great help in enabling us to understand the reason 



