THE DAIRY. 297 



factories of New England for the last two years, if you will 

 allow a fair valuation for the skim milk, have realized very 

 nearly, if not quite, three cents a quart for their milk through 

 the year, as the result of this system of butter making. I 

 have stated that to be the fact in connection with the 

 Amherst creamery, and I have no hesitation in saying that 

 the stock from which the Amherst factory gets its cream is 

 not any better stock than the stock from which other facto- 

 ries are supplied. Ten or eleven pounds of milk to a pound 

 of butter does not mean good butter-making cows. If I 

 had a herd of cows that I was making butter from and could 

 not get the average down to eight or nine quarts, I should 

 think I was in poor business ; I should think I had a milk- 

 man's herd, and that I had better ship them off. I have 

 made a pound of butter from every seven and a half quarts 

 of milk, and I got rid of every cow that would not give me 

 that amount of cream. 



Mr. Taft. If you increase the quality, don't you decrease 

 the quantity? 



Major Alvoed. Not necessarily. You do not decrease 

 the total number of pounds of butter from the number of 

 cows, which is what we are after. As I understand Mr. 

 Root, the returns here do not exceed two and a half cents a 

 quart for the last year for whole milk ; rather below than 

 over it. 



Mr. Root. Yes, sir ; I should say so. 



Major Alvord. I venture to say that the creatneriea 

 generally through this part of the State have done a great 

 deal better than that. I will say this, that the two cows at 

 the Experiment Station are poor cows. I am sorry the Ex- 

 periment Station has not got better stock, if that is the 

 report they make. 



Mr. Mykick. Those must be the same cows the milk 

 from which averaged about eleven per cent, solids last year 

 and the year before. 



Major Alvord. They are not up to the Massachusetts 

 standard in butter-makino: rc«i:ions. I a<rree entirclv with 

 Mr. Myrick, that it would not do for us to rely upon the 

 record of two cows, no matter who lias them. I don't care 

 if, instead of showing two cents a quart or less, they showed 



