No. 123.] REPORT OF COMMISSIONER. 17 



Margaret Mahaney of Concord for her work in this direction. 

 Turkeys are really becoming plentiful again, although the stage 

 we are now going through will not place many of these birds on 

 the market as dressed poultry, for there is too large a demand 

 for breeding stock, which is selling for fancy prices, certain good 

 birds often bringing $100 each. 



There also seems to be a revival in the production of geese 

 and ducks in small flocks, although it is difficult to explain why 

 this is so. 



The future outlook is not very promising, unless the grain 

 situation changes, and this is not likely for some time, due to 

 export demand and short crops in this country. That New 

 England will ever become enough of a grain-raising section to 

 make itself independent of the West is extremely doubtful, and 

 yet to lose our poultry industry because of grain prices would 

 indeed be a serious calamity to our agriculture. 



Milk Situation. 



Conditions attending the production of milk in Massachu- 

 setts during the past year have been more satisfactory than in 

 recent years, although the reports from assessors indicate that 

 there are 2,000 fewer cows in Massachusetts than there were a 

 year ago. The work of the Federal Milk Commission in fixing 

 prices which farmers should receive for their milk formed a 

 starting point for the year's prosperity. These prices were fixed 

 as a result of sworn testimony on the part of a large number of 

 farmers as to their costs for producing milk. It was found that 

 the average cost of producing milk in Massachusetts was higher 

 than in any other State in New England. This is probably due 

 to the nearness of Massachusetts farms to industrial institutions 

 and the wage which the Massachusetts farmer has to pay in 

 competition with other kinds of labor, and it is due, also, to the 

 fact that the valuation of land in Massachusetts is somewhat 

 higher, on the average, than in other States. 



An extensive campaign for advertising the food value of milk 

 has been inaugurated in the larger cities of the State under a 

 co-operative agreement of the New England Milk Producers' 

 Association, various Boston milk distributors, the Massachu- 

 setts Department of Agriculture, the Massachusetts Agricul- 

 tural College, the Boston Chamber of Commerce, and other 



