232 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Assistance lias been given in improving the milk supplies of 20 

 cities, the score-card system of inspection being used. 



Assistance has been given in organizing creameries in North Caro- 

 lina, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Creamery promoters are constantly 

 making an effort to sell creamery plants throughout this section. 

 There are but few localities where dairying is sufficiently developed 

 to make it possible to operate a creamery with success, hence the 

 Dairy Division tries to discourage such enterprises where local con- 

 ditions are such that they can not succeed. Wherever the conditions 

 are reasonably favorable all possible assistance is given in organizing 

 creameries and getting the work properly started. 



Assistance was given by the field men at 13 fairs. At each of these 

 a butter contest was held. A small exhibit of plans of dairy build- 

 ings was made, and publications on various dairy subjects were dis- 

 tributed. At a number of the fairs working dairies were conducted 

 by the field men. A twelve months' butter contest was conducted in 

 North Carolina. Thirty dairymen entered, and 19 remained to the 

 close. A milk, cream, and butter contest was conducted with great 

 success in connection with the South Carolina Dairy and Live Stock 

 Association. One hundred and six agricultural meetings were at- 

 tended by the field workers, and seven short courses of dairy instruc- 

 tion of from three to six days were given. 



During the year three new dairy and live-stock associations were 

 organized, and meetings were held with the six associations organized 

 the previous year. 



WESTERN FIELD WORK. 



During the last few months of the fiscal year work similar to that 

 being done in the South was begun in Colorado and Idaho. The 

 Western States offer splendid opportunities for dairy development, 

 and it is desirable to increase the work in that section just as rapidly 

 as funds will permit. The number of small farmers in that section 

 is rapidly increasing, and raising beef cattle on such farms is often 

 unprofitable; many of the farmers therefore very readily take up 

 dairying. 



WORK WITH CREAMERY PATRONS. 



Extensive as have been the investigations relating to butter manu- 

 facturing, the general quality of butter seems to continue to become 

 lower. The competition in cream buying is often very strong, so that 

 if one buyer refuses to take cream because it is in bad condition an- 

 other buyer stands ready to take it in spite of its condition. Thus 

 the quality of cream sold to creameries has been getting poorer and 

 poorer. Investigations in the creamery alone are ineffective in over- 

 coming this difficulty, and the work must be carried to the farmer. 

 One experiment has been begun among the patrons of a creamery in 

 Iowa whereb}^ each patron's cream w^ill be graded for quality, and 

 those that are making good cream w^ll be shown that they are receiv- 

 ing from 1 to 3 cents a pound less because it is mixed wuth the poor 

 cream from the other patrons, while those who are producing poor 

 cream will be offered assistance in improving the quality, and finally 

 an effort will be made to have the cream paid for by grade. It is 

 believed that the increased value of the better product will more than 

 cover the cost of the improvement. 



