1890.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 137 



stituted for plodding stupidity, scrub stock, and the imple- 

 ments of a departed age. 



Its Infect upon Dairy Husbandry. 

 Dairying has not thus far been seriously affected by 

 Western overproduction of its legitimate products. Decep- 

 tion and fraud, and not the Federal government, have been 

 chiefly responsible for the ills to which we dairymen have 

 thus far been exposed. But there is abundant evidence that 

 the time is near at hand when we must depend upon foreign 

 markets, for the disposal of our surplus dairy products. We 

 cannot then reasonably expect to receive the prevailing 

 prices of the last twenty-five years. The key-note of all 

 agriculturists, not excepting the dairyman, must be " cheap 

 production and superior products." The great mass of our 

 dairy manufactures must be improved in quality, to save 

 the business from utter ruin. 



Improvement demanded, and why. 

 We must improve. First, that we may increase home 

 consumption, and build up a foreign demand. We must 

 improve the reputation of our wares in all markets, and put 

 our feet upon every fraud calculated to injure that reputation. 

 Second, we must produce cheaply here in New England, 

 that we may compete successfully with the West, and hold 

 our own Eastern markets, and that the balance sheet may 

 still show a profit. 



How reduce the Cost of Production. 



The question of cheap production obviously embraces all 

 of the means by which dairy wares are produced. The cow, 

 her food and care, the system of crop production employed, 

 cost of farm, stock and appliances, all have an important 

 bearing upon the net cost of the wares produced. 



The cost of plant is an important consideration in all 

 business enterprises, requiring a proportionately large amount 

 of real estate, or expensive appliances, in their prosecution, 

 and in none more so than in the dairy business at the present 

 time. Low prices for agricultural products imply cheap 

 lands upon which to produce them, low rates of interest on 



