Vermont Dairymen's Association. 29 



All through the year prices for dairy products have been 

 good, — exceptionally so considering the large increase in butter 

 production over 1904. The summer of 1905 was one of cheap 

 production too, as grazing was the best for many years, necessi- 

 tating a smaller grain ration than usual and thereby minimizing 

 the cost of food. Owing to the increased amount of storage but- 

 ter, prices probably will not go as high this winter as last, but 

 the outlook is fairly good, all things considered. 



It is very gratifying to us as an Association to note the 

 continued and continuing development, improvement and pros- 

 perity of the farmers of our beloved Green Mountain State, and to 

 feel that we have done our little toward bringing this to pass. 

 But we gladly recognize other potent factors in this development, 

 first among which I might mention the Granges ; the State Grange, 

 with our most excellent governor as it Worthy Master, the 

 Pomona, and the local or subordinate granges scattered through- 

 out the State, in all of which the best and most modern ways of 

 dairying from the selection and care of the dairy herd to the 

 marketing of the finished product are discussed and assimilated. 

 And yet, as in our Association, it is not the discussion alone, 

 but the banding together, the organization, the union of purpose, 

 which makes the work of the Grange so powerful for good. In 

 connection with this subject of organization. Dr. Austin Peters 

 says : "The farmer is the only man the community cannot live 

 without and the only man who can live long without help from 

 the rest of the community. If farmers could organize and strike, 

 they could bring the rest of the country on its knees to them with- 

 in three weeks." 



The agricultural press should have a prominent place among 

 the factors which have greatly helped to produce the present 

 prosperity. Each year it improves upon its mission of dissemin- 

 ating the knowledge most useful to all who are in any way in- 

 terested in the work of the farm. 



The state institute zvork which has been so ably carried on 

 has brought awakening and encouragement to many. 



As late as ten years ago it was prophesied that the cream- 

 eries of our State would live but a short time, that they were ex- 

 travagancies which the farmer could not afford to support. In- 

 stead of this prophecy coming true, they have become the back- 

 bone of the dairy industry. Do you doubt it? Let us think 

 for a minute of a small, well-equipped, well-managed creamery 

 in one of our little towns, — a creamery doing, we will say, a 

 $25,000 business annually. The work is done in a systematic 

 business-like way, — a wholesome spirit of competition is en- 

 couraged in order to secure the most and best from each patron ; 

 the product is handled and packed as neatly and attractively as 



