34 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



product to the best advantage ? There are three wajs for 

 him to dispose of it : one is to handle it himself, with his 

 own teams ; another is to sell it to the middleman ; and 

 another is to pool in his product with his neighbors, and 

 make a partnership under the co-operative system. Which- 

 ever plan he adopts, he finds that he is in company with 

 some one ; if not with the middleman, he is with the con- 

 suming public. It is policy for the seller to find out just 

 what they want and make the goods they call for, and exact 

 of them a price that will remunerate him for his efi'orts. It 

 ought not to be forgotten that it is a poor plan in business 

 for the seller to ignore or treat as of small consequence the 

 wishes or even the peculiarities of the customers. Public 

 interest in the quality of market milk is increasing. Milk 

 consumers, physicians and progressive milk producers and 

 dealers seem to appreciate that there is the greatest varia- 

 tion of quality and wholesomeness in milk sold, and that it 

 is highly important for this article of food to be always 

 pure. 



Milk is a valuable product of the Massachusetts farms, 

 and on some farms the only article produced. With the 

 growine: demand for milk and cream in our laroe cities and 

 towns, the problem that confronts us to-day is. Where is the 

 milk all coming from to supply the demand? With the 

 express freight and trolley express, they in a measure help 

 solve the proljlem ; but in order to get a supply the con- 

 tractor is obliged to go back into the country several hun- 

 dreds of miles, and in so doing buys the product which 

 formerly went into some creamerj^ causing a complete change 

 in the method of handling the product of the dairy in that 

 vicinity. 



There are strong arguments in favor of selling milk, 

 rather than selling cream to a butter factory ; and, vice versa, 

 equally good arguments in favor of selling cream to factories, 

 over selling milk to be shipped to large centres of popula- 

 tion. 



The location of the producer s farm must be taken into con- 

 sideration ; the price of land ; amount of good pasturage ; 

 easiness to get his farm products to market. 



