66 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



bone-forming material. But there is one thing singular to 

 me, and that is, why a people so intelligent as the people of 

 Massachusetts should use less milk than those of any other 

 State in the Union, and why the people of Virginia should 

 use more than those of any other State in the Union. But 

 there is auotlier singular thing connected with milk in Massa- 

 chusetts that may be ofF-set against the small quantity used 

 here. The city of Boston is supplied with better milk than 

 any other city in the United States, in proportion to its size. 

 It either speaks well for the milk regulations of the Bosto- 

 nians, or of the honor of those who supply the milk; which, 

 I will not attempt to say. 



The total value of the milk-crop (I may call it a crop) 

 cannot fall short of $500,000,000 annually. Mr. Welles, I 

 know, estimates it at $400,000,000 ; but, taking the same sta- 

 tistics, as far as I have been able to compare the statistics 

 with the facts, the whole amount is underrated at least one- 

 fifth. In the United States, — in the county of Herkimer, 

 at any rate, and I think it is in a measure true everywhere, — 

 people who are not well posted connect the obtaining of sta- 

 tistics with an increase of taxation, and it is a solemn fact, 

 and a deplorable fact, that we do not get the truth of the 

 matter, as we ought to get it. It may not be so here, and it 

 ought not to be so in any enlightened community, yet I know 

 it is the case in some localities. Then, some of the marshals 

 who obtain the facts in regard to the industry of our country 

 and its wealth, were incompetent to transact the business put 

 into their hands ; they were careless, or indifierent, or some- 

 thin or else. 



I had designed this afternoon to speak more of the taints 

 and odors of milk than anything else, and to point out, if I 

 could, the effect of taints and odors upon keeping milk, and 

 upon keeping the butter which is manufactured from it, and 

 of the effect that these taints and odors have upon its market 

 value ; but before going into that subject, I will speak a 

 moment of its specific gravity. We have found, since the 

 introduction of the associated dairy system, under which milk 

 is carried to our butter and cheese fjictories, and every man is 

 credited with the amount of millc, that is, the number of 

 pounds of milk, delivered, there is great anxiety on the part 



