No. 4.] MODERN DAIRYING. Ill 



Ex-Governor Hoard. Yes, it is a high average. 



Mr. Bull. Is 3 per cent low? 



Ex-Governor Hoard. Yes. Our average per cent for the 

 year is about 4.60. I will tell you what effect it had on our 

 community when we established the Babcock test. We had 

 been taking tests of the milk from 1887 to 1891. We knew 

 what the milk was worth in butter fat, but the dividends 

 were apportioned on the pound plan. We commenced in 

 April, 1891, to use the Babcock test. The average fat con- 

 tent of our milk from 1889 to 1891 was 3.97 per cent. The 

 average fat content of it from that time on has been 4.30, 

 4.40, 4.50 and 4.60. The practical effect on the farmer 

 has been at once to put him on the merits of the proposi- 

 tion. 



Dr. Lixdsey. I recognize the fact that we have the gov- 

 ernor here for a purpose, and we should utilize him, but I 

 feel that I should make a mistake if I did not add my word. 

 "When our friend Mr. Barton asked the governor to explain 

 the difference between his system of paying for milk and 

 cream and contrast it with the present system used by the 

 Massachusetts farmer, I think he had the idea in view to 

 show the farmers, if possible, which was the more beneficial, 

 paying for cream by space or paying by the Babcock test. 

 Now, we in Massachusetts at our station have been preach- 

 ing for several years that the space was a delusion to the 

 farmer. We do not claim to have originated that idea ; we 

 simply attempted to emphasize it. Two years ago a pamphlet 

 was published in which the per cent of butter fat contained 

 in the cream gathered from one hundred and sixty-five dif- 

 ferent farms was given. I took occasion to collect every 

 sample myself, so I should know every condition. I found 

 that that cream varied from 11 to 22 per cent of butter, fat. 

 The farmers were being paid the same amount of money per 

 space, whether the cream contained 11, 16, 18, 20 or 22 per 

 cent of butter fat, and I have been attempting to preach the 

 fallacy of that idea ever since. I know that the seed has 

 been sown and that in time it is going to spring up and 

 bring forth fruit; but I must confess that it seems to me that 

 the farmers are a little slow in taking hold of the idea, and I 



