No. 6 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 225 



kept under lock and key. Secrecy is unwise; publicity disarms sus- 

 picion. Dislionc^t methods of sampling or testing are used occasion- 

 ally. I believe ihiit ''occasionally" is as strong a word as is war- 

 ranted by the facts. I feel that ninety or ninety-five per cent, of 

 the troubles which agitale the patrons as to the test system are 

 imaginary rather than real. Yet, unfortunately, sometimes errors 

 of intent, deliberate dishonesty, exist. I have, however, no sym- 

 pathy for a patron who growls, or swears, or whines, who claims 

 that he has no recourse, that he is iu the hands of a management and 

 must take what they give him ,who alleges incomi)etence or worse, 

 without strivng to correct it or to confirm his allegations by investi- 

 gation. He has recourse. He can, if he will, work out his own sal- 

 vation, either by his own hand, by that of some bright young man 

 or woman, or by that of Uncle Sam. If he is sincere, if he really 

 wants to learn the truth, he can help himself or be helped to attain 

 the right in the manner already cited. 



One of my former associates on the Vermont Board of Agriculture 

 was wont to say, that in this era of trusts, w-hich are viewed with 

 some suspicion, there is the one trust we should accept to a greater 

 extent than we do, and that is "trust one another." The present 

 creamery conditions do not, in my judgment, warrant the wholesale 

 feeling of distrust which is prevalent among patrons. I would sub- 

 stitute for the word "distrust" one which I think will be found far 

 more helpful as a means of arriving at the truth, one which will satis- 

 fy the creamery management far better, the word "investigate." 



Do not distrust but investigate. I am confident that most cream- 

 ery managements will gladly meet candid and sincere patrons more 

 than half-way in the investigation of apparent discrepancies and 

 iu the rectification of any proved inaccuracy or injustice. When the 

 day of general mutual investigation dawns in creamery w^ork there 

 will be greater harmony between patron and management, and bet- 

 ter work all around. 



SPECIAL BULLETIN, OCTOBER, 1899. 



VERMONT STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE AND EXPERI- 

 MENT STATION. 



SAMPLING MILK AND CREAM. 



Dairymen are learning to use the Babcock test more every year 

 upon their individual cows or the entire dairy, either using it them- 

 selves or having tests made for them at the creamery or by the experi- 

 15—6—1901 



