No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 743 



the form of the dairy and more attention to her power to produce 

 milk. It is all right to have dairy type, but production should go 

 with it. During the past few months I have compiled some ten 

 thousand records and secured photographs of many of the cows in 

 each breed having the highest records. While these high record 

 cows are not such as would be selected for their good form in many 

 cases, yet they have the productive capacity as shown by the scales. 



DEPARTMENT TRYING TO GET CLOSER TO THE DAIRYMEN. 



In the earlier part of the Dairy Division of the Department of 

 Agriculture, the main object in view was to collect and dissemi- 

 nate information on all phases of the dairy industry in this and other 

 countries. Seventy bulletins have been prepared during the past 

 ten years telling dairymen facts about the business and how to carry 

 it on, but more recently we have seen the necessity for taking more 

 information direct to dairymen and showing them by means of ob- 

 ject lessons and in a practical manner how to do things. I have 

 only time to just mention a few of the lines of work that have been 

 taken up from this standpoint. One that promises to be very help- 

 ful and practical is the establishing of what may be termed "de- 

 monstration farms" in the South. For nearly a year a dairy ex- 

 pert has been traveling from place to place through the Southern 

 states looking up the conditions and favorable localities for estab- 

 lishing demonstration farms. The idea is to assist in making these- 

 farms models in ev< ry respect so that dairymen in the surrounding 

 country will have a place where they can see for themselves modern 

 methods of the dairy management. 



Another line of work that has recently been taken up and which is 

 attracting widespread interest is the improvement of dairy barns. 

 This is really a campaign for clean milk. The subject is of great 

 importance from the standpoint of health when we consider that 

 milk is used daily by almost every family in the country, and that 

 the milk produced annually amounts to over seven billion gallons. 

 There is no question but that there is need for much improvement 

 in this direction. Ask the dairy inspectors through the country 

 what they find and they will tell you that a large percentage of the 

 barns are dark, damp and poorly ventilated, and have the odor of 

 manure and other decomposing matter. These conditions contribute 

 unhealthy germs to milk and keep the cows unhealthy. Since the 

 Dairy Division began the work of improving dairy barns, letters have 

 been received almost daily asking for plans showing proper barn 

 construction. Plans and specifications are now being prepared by 

 the Department architect and some have already been furnished 

 to a number of dairymen. We hope soon to have plans drawn for 

 types of barns suited to different sections of the country, so that 

 dairymen in any particular section can have a plan suitable for their 

 conditions. It is as easy and cheap to build a barn right, observ- 

 ing conditions which contribute to sanitation, as to build it wrong. 

 We do not expect to reform the whole system in a few weeks but 

 we want to help the poor farmer as well as the rich to have the best 

 barns possible. It is hoped to soon extend the work to include 

 silos, dairy houses, ice houses, etc. 



The Dairy Division is also carrying on work in co-operation with 

 Experiment Stations and studying problems in butter and cheese 



