290 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



curtailed their business, given up milk production/ sold their 

 farms or changed their system of farming. The farms when 

 sold have usually gone into the hands of city people for 

 country homes or for so-called fancy farming. Poles and 

 other immigrants have not purchased dairy farms to any 

 extent, preferring the onion and tobacco farms of the Con- 

 necticut valley or truck farms adjacent to large cities. 



We are of the opinion that the great hope for the future 

 of Massachusetts dairying lies in the production of clean, 

 wholesome milk for near-by markets for a price higher than 

 that paid for railroad market milk from northern New 

 York, northern New England and Canada, which cannot be 

 safely sold without pasteurization. Whatever may be done 

 in the way of inspection and supervision in the future, long- 

 hauled milk sold in large cities will continue to be pas- 

 teurized, — or treated in some equal or superior manner, — 

 in order that the public health may be safeguarded and the 

 milk contractors and dealers protected. We believe that 

 inspection of dairies, while necessary and important, is fre- 

 quently overestimated in the public mind, and that the real 

 good that comes from these inspections is the simple re- 

 moval of unsound animals and of unsanitary conditions 

 without frills, fads and unnecessary requirements. Dairy 

 inspection is not a guarantee of cleanliness. The best way 

 in which clean milk can be secured from dairies three hundred 

 and sixty-five days in the year is to pay for it on the basis 

 of cleanliness and freedom from contamination. 



With the limited sum of S5,000 per annum at our dis- 

 posal, we cannot do all that we would like. In fact, we can 

 only make a beginning in a few ways. W'e believe that by 

 encouragement and incidental instruction, habits of dairy- 

 men, however good, can be improved. In carrying out this 

 idea we have during the year offered prizes aggregating 

 $3,000, $2,550 of which was for clean milk, and $450 for the 

 protection of dairies from flies. For convenience, the State 

 was divided into two sections, — eastern and western. In 

 the eastern section there were 37 entries. These dairies 



1 In 1890 there were assessed in Massachusetts 200,658 cows; m 1906, 181,816; in 1912, 

 161,608; and in 1913, 151,276. This shows a decrease, from 1890 to 1913, of 49,382; from 1906 

 to 1913, of 30,540; and from 1912 to 1913, of 10,332. 



