56 VERMONT DAIRYMEN'S REPORT. 



ported to England 2,293,000 lbs of butter, and in 1897, I 5,4 I 9»6oo 

 lbs. of butter, an increase of nearly 700 per cent. The increase 

 in the same time in the exportation of Canadian butter, however, 

 has been even greater. 



(d) Is there not danger of overproduction f This is a very 

 pertinent question. The old yet ever true answer may be made 

 that while there are always too many inferior goods made, there 

 has not yet been a surplus of the best grades. There is always 

 room at the top. I do not believe there is any immediate danger 

 of over-production. Increase of population more than keeps pace 

 with the increase in the number of cows because of the slaughter 

 of poor animals and calves. The consumption per capita in this 

 country and in Europe of the various dairy products, milk, 

 butter, cheese, cream, milk foods, condensed milk, etc., has 

 greatly increased within the last generation and particularly 

 within the last fifteen years. These two factors, larger numbers 

 of consumers and larger per capita consumption, are, in my judg- 

 ment, sufficient to take care of the increase in production for 

 many years to come. The increase in the number of consumers 

 has come as a matter of course. The increased consumption per 

 capita, however, has been the direct result of the marked improve- 

 ment in the quality of the various dairy products ; a betterment 

 which has been brought about by the educating effect of constant' 

 agitation upon the minds of dairymen and creamery men. This 

 education from press and platform, from laboratory and class 

 room is resulting in the making of better milk, from which better 

 butter and cheese can be made. It has taught the food producer 

 the money value of palatability and attractiveness. 



Let creameries multiply, cheese factories dot the landscape, 

 the milk trains penetrate yet further from the metropolis, the 

 cattle on a thousand hills cover ten times a thousand, and farmers 

 the country over turn to that most rational system of husbandry 

 whose foundation lies in dairying ; let all this happen, yet I fear 

 not over-production, the bugaboo of timid souls for generations 

 past, I fear it not so long as a high grade of dairy products is 

 made to tempt the appetite to their larger use. 



(3.) THE DAIRY BUSINESS. 



I admitted at the outset that in formulating my scheme 

 of division I seemed to have interchanged the locations of cart 

 and horse ; also that much which might be said under the head 

 of " Economies of Manufacture " could very properly be con- 

 sidered under the present heading ; that, in short, the two were 

 closely alike and not capable of clear differentiation. I made 

 the distinction, however, deliberately, as I wanted under the 

 one heading to lay stress upon the economic side of the prob- 



