56 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



business than ever before. It is necessary in a price-fixing pro- 

 gram to get at, first, all of the cost of production of a certain 

 article. The necessity of production-costs has been especially 

 apparent in the hearings before the Federal milk commissions, 

 where the first thing to be determined was the cost of produc- 

 ing milk. 



The committee on agriculture of the Boston Chamber of 

 Commerce anticipated the necessity of having accurate informa- 

 tion on these points, and instituted a plan last summer to ob- 

 tain the cost of milk production in New England. It suc- 

 ceeded in interesting the committees on public safety in the 

 different States, and also the agricultural colleges, to assist in 

 carrying out this program, — the committees on public safety 

 furnishing the funds, and the agricultural colleges supplying the 

 experts to do the field work. This work has been completed 

 and a summary is now published in bulletin form. The details 

 for each State* will doubtless be published by each agricultural 

 college. This has already been done in some of the New Eng- 

 land States. The following tables summarize the figures for 

 New England, and give the different items for Massachusetts: — 



