EEPORT OF THE DAIRY BUREAU. 



The Dairy Bureau is charged with the enforcement of the 

 dairy laws of the Commonwealth, and also with educational 

 work. In enforcing these laws the Bureau has co-ordinate 

 jurisdiction with the State Board of Health and with milk 

 inspectors, and at first glance it would seem as if there were 

 an unnecessary complexity of machinery ; but this is ap- 

 parent rather than real. So far as the State Board of Health 

 concerns itself with dairy products, it makes a specialty of 

 looking for violations of the milk laws ; consequently, the 

 Dairy Bureau makes a specialty of enforcing the counterfeit 

 butter laws. In most cities and towns havino; milk in- 

 spectors the salaries paid these officers are very small, hence 

 no great amount of work is performed by them, and there is 

 need of inspection by State officers ; in these places we are 

 welcomed, sometimes very heartily, as an important ally of 

 the local authorities. Boston, however, has liberal appro- 

 priations, and in Dr. Harrington an excellent officer to 

 enforce the law ; therefore the work is well done, and we 

 attempt nothing in the city of Boston. From the above it 

 will be seen that, in enforcing the laws relative to counter- 

 feit butter outside of Boston, with incidental attention to 

 other dairy laws, and in carrying out the injunction of the 

 statute "to disseminate such information as shall be of ser- 

 vice in producing a more uniform dairy product of higher 

 grade and better quality," the Dairy Bureau has a distinctive 

 field of action difierent from that of any other department, 

 and one in which there is an abundance of important work. 



During the past year we have been exceptionally busy, 

 and have accomplished more — at least, so far as v^isible and 

 statistical results show — than in any previous year of the 

 Bureau's existence. This is largely due to increased activity 

 of dealers in oleomargarine, and the addition to our work 



