No. 4.] DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 299 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND 



SANITATION. 



[Read and accepted at the Annual Meeting, Jan. 8, 1902.] 



Your committee has held the meeting required by the 

 rules of the Board, and begs leave to submit the following- 

 report. ' The work of the State on domestic animals and 

 sanitation is largely in the hands of the State Cattle Com- 

 mission, they having funds to work with which are not at 

 the command of your committee ; the work of this committee 

 has therefore been confined to observation and consultation. 

 The cattle industry in Massachusetts is mainly confined to 

 milk and butter production, and the dairymen of the State 

 have suffered under peculiarly trying circumstances this 

 year in the very high prices which have prevailed for grain 

 feeds. Nevertheless, it is the belief of this committee that 

 the dairy interests of Massachusetts have, in view of the 

 higher prices for milk which have also quite generally pre- 

 vailed, been prosperous, on the whole, and the outlook for 

 the future is as bright as ever. Certainly never have our 

 dairymen done as much in the raising of soiling crops and 

 of green fodder for the silo as in this year ; and it is the ear- 

 nest hope of this committee that they may return to the old- 

 fashioned method of raising a goodly proportion of the grain 

 which they consume on their own farms. The quality of the 

 stock of the State is steadily going forward, and never was 

 there more pure-bred stock on the farms of Massachusetts 

 than to-day. 



The question of sanitation of farm buildings has been one 

 which has engrossed a great deal of attention for the past 

 few years, and during that time great advances have been 



