xii BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



would otherwise have been the case. Tobacco was very un- 

 even, some fields doing finely, while others, especially where 

 late planted, were very light and unsatisfactory. Much of the 

 crop remains unsold, so that it is impossible to predict with any 

 certainty the final result to the growers. 



Poultry products have brought high prices throughout the 

 year, but, with the high prices of grain and other poultry sup- 

 plies, it is not probable that any more than the average profit 

 has been obtained. Farmers in general would do well to pay 

 more attention to their farm flocks of poultry, as there is no 

 source of income that will respond more readily to intelligent 

 treatment, or which is more neglected on the average farm. 



There is one phase of farming in Massachusetts which I be- 

 lieve has not received sufficient attention in the past few years, 

 — the breeding of dairy stock. To such an extent have the 

 eastern and central portions of the State been given over to the 

 production of milk for the city markets, that this particular line 

 of industry has been almost entirely neglected in these sections. 

 The usual process of the milk producer is to buy the best cows 

 he can obtain in the market, milk them out and then sell them. 

 Only a small proportion of these cows find their way back to 

 the farms, most of them going to the butcher. In this way there 

 is a constant purchasing of the best cows in the stock-breeding 

 sections of Massachusetts and neighboring States, which never 

 have another opportunity to reproduce their like, but pass out 

 of the account with their fall below profitable production in the 

 hands of their new owners. It seems inevitable that this must 

 tend to a lowering of the standard of quality in the breeding 

 sections. The constant culling over of the herds for the best 

 for the milk-producing sections cannot but be lowering to the 

 quality of the animals left as producers of good milking stock. 

 It is thought quite likely that this process has had much to do 

 with the difficulty that milk producers complain of in securing 

 a profit from their operations. I would urge that milk pro- 

 ducers give this matter careful attention, and consider whether 

 it would not be well to endeavor to raise stock from their best 

 milkers, even if it necessitated the cutting down of the amount 

 of milk whieh they are able to produce for market. Indeed, it is 

 believed that milk producers would find a greater profit, taking 



