666 1»0AKT> OF AGRICULTURE, 



down, but when we want to buy beef they stick the price up to 25 and 

 30 cents a pound. It seems to me that these things should be different. 

 Of course we do not have very much to do with these things, but they 

 are facts, and they are a detriment and always will be to the good dairy 

 producer. 



The great trouble, as our Pi-esident said, is that we are at the wrong 

 end of the procession. There is a small amount of good, a large amount 

 of fair, but a whole lot of bad daiiy pruduce. The object of this Associa- 

 tion is to put these things the other way— a large amount of good, moaer- 

 ate amount of fair, and a small amount of bad. Now then, how are you 

 going to do that? The education part of this Association has had this 

 matter in hands for years and they hope to get the assistance of the 

 Legislature in getting men trained in that work to visit the factories, to 

 visit the farms. That is the way in which they hope to change things. 

 Right here in your city you do not have to pay mucli more for good milk; 

 the milk produces better cream; and really it is a good deal more appetiz- 

 ing to know that you are getting cleaner milk, and that the milk when 

 it comes to your place has not been subjected to anything to give it either 

 a bad flavor or an unwholesome taste. This is the market end of it. 

 The people eat more; they would drink more milk, eat more butter. If 

 j'ou dairymen understand your business yoii will know that your most 

 important point is quality. That is what makes the price today. Today 

 the price of butter is high. It is 30 cents a pound on the market, and 

 how much of that butter can you find on the market in Chicago or New 

 York, or any other large receiving center? I am sorry to say a very 

 small proportion. When you find butter that you can buy for 30 cents 

 a pound you will find butter that will grade from 93 to 96, according 

 to the standard of grading of butter. I am not just sure of this, but 

 think you will have to pay 30^^> or 31 cents for the general run of fancy 

 creamery butter. What is the reason that butter is so high today. There 

 is not enough good butter made. That is all there is to it, Mr. President, 

 and yet the farmer thinks because he has four or five or six cows he 

 knows how to make good butter like grandmother used to make. He 

 thinks he has quite a dairy with this many cows. The market today 

 demands butter that is better than grandmother used to make, although 

 I don't think we get a gi'eat deal of it. Some of our grandmothers made 

 better butter than some of ^ne creameries do today. It seems to me that 

 the butter and bread used to taste sweeter than they do now. It does 

 not taste as good to me now as it did when I was a boy ten or twelve 

 years old. 



How are we going to improve the quality of our butter? 



Now, Mr. President, 1 had a nice paper written. Possibly I had 

 better read from it: 



Your Secretary asked me to discuss the market outlook before your 

 Association; and it sooms as if tliovo Avas but little to say, especially if 



