122 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



which he has said were simply intimations brought out by the 

 haste with which his paper was prepared. But, gentlemen, 

 the dairy itself, and the position it occupies in the agricultural 

 community of the world, is really one of the most interesting 

 questions that a farmer can discuss. You know perfectly 

 well that you can turn your attention to the specific crops of 

 any land, and if you apply ordinary intelligence and skill, 

 you may be perfectly sure of reaping your reward. The 

 market gardeners around Worcester, if they apply their labor 

 skilfully, are sure to be compensated for that labor. He who 

 grows tobacco in Virginia knows that when his tobacco crop 

 reaches the market, it will usually compensate him for the 

 labor bestowed upon the crop. The sugar grower and the 

 cotton grower of the South, accommodating themselves to 

 the soil which they cultivate and the latitude in which they 

 live, and adapting their products to the markets they intend 

 to supply, know perfectly well that they will generally receive 

 an ample reward for their labor and their capital. That is 

 patent everywhere. But to the man who devotes himself to 

 the business of the dairy, the question becomes much more 

 uncertain and the results much more problematical, and so we 

 must govern ourselves by the best information we can obtain 

 on this question, with the entire understanding that even with 

 the best designs and obedience to the best laws, we are liable 

 to meet many difficulties and obstacles which would seem to 

 be almost insurmountable. 



It is a curious fact, that the dairy section of the world is a 

 narrow section. I mean to say, that the belt of land which is 

 devoted to the dairy is a very narrow belt. It is confined 

 almost entirely to the northern portion of the temperate zone. 

 The arctic regions and the lauds at the equator have no dairy ; 

 nor have the southern portions of the temperate zone. It is 

 those latitudes that lie along the northern portion of the tem- 

 perate zone which are adapted to the dairy, generally. Now, 

 I think we can deduce from this a very excellent law to guide 

 us in our work. We know perfectly well that the extremes 

 of heat and cold in this belt of land of which I have spoken, 

 must generally be avoided, in order that the dairy may be 

 properly managed. In the extreme heat of summer, the same 

 difficulty exists with the dairy in the latitude to which I have 



