DAIRY PRODUCTS. 187 



your society encourage this industry, which is the very life- 

 blood of our prosperity, and what eifort shall we make to stim- 

 ulate to a higher excellence and more extensive production ? 



You offer a premium of thirty dollars for the best-managed 

 farm, the income of which maybe $500 or $1,500. Eight 

 dollars is offered for the best specimen of cheese made at a 

 factory where perhaps more than $150,000 worth of milk is 

 converted into a commodity, the income of which vitally 

 affects fift}' farms. We suggest a greater stimulus in a higher 

 premium, and a wider field of observation, by requiring a 

 committee to visit the different factories and inspect the man- 

 agement and the quality of the cheese in its different stages 

 and carefully compare merits and defects, thereby gaining 

 much valuable information for the good of the whole dairying 

 community. It is not a difficult thing to select one or two 

 cheeses of the finest quality from either of the factories in 

 Hardwick, New Braintree, Barre or elsewhere. These may 

 be exceptions ; the point to be gained is to have all of a uni- 

 formly high standard. The cheese of Worcester County has 

 to-day a higher reputation in this regard than any other sec- 

 tion, and yet it is too low. 



But we leave it to the wisdom of your officers whether they 

 cannot make a " new departure " which shall enhance the pro- 

 duction of an article of sustenance which has increased in favor 

 and utility ever since it was first made in the once fertile val- 

 leys and on the green hillsides of ancient Judea, and which 

 will continue to be more and more prized as a necessity for 



man's daily food. 



T. P. Root, for the Committee. 



NORFOLK. 



Statement of A. W. CJieever. 



BuTTEPw — The package of butter herewith presented is a 

 sample of six hundred and ninety-seven pounds sold during 

 the past four months, from an average of eight cows. The 

 largest number milked during the time of trial was ten. 

 Two have been sold for beef. Four calved since the com- 

 mencement of the trial, and two of these calves were fattened 

 and three others have been raised on new milk for about two 

 weeks, and then fed with milk twelve hours' old for some 



