No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. ix 



mature condition when harvested, and many fields grown for 

 grain gave almost no yield of mature ears. 



Dairy products brought better prices than ever before, 

 but this was offset, and indeed the increase was mainly 

 forced, by failing pastures, obliging milk producers to feed 

 at the barn and making serious inroads into the winter's 

 supply of roughage. The price of milk is still below what 

 it should be at the farm. Whether the solution of this ques- 

 tion lies with the increase of the price to the consumer or 

 with the increase of price paid by the middleman is a ques- 

 tion. The recent report setting forth the findings of the 

 expert employed to examine into the accounts of the milk 

 dealers of Xew York City, with the great profits shown to 

 have been piled up on eight-cent anilk, would indicate that 

 perhaps it might lie along the latter line. I would urge 

 that the Legislature be requested to consider whether such 

 an examination and general inquiry into the conditions 

 surrounding the production, transportation and sale of milk 

 is not in order in this State. Certainly the farmers would be 

 the last to urge an increase to the consumers, many of whom 

 can ill afford to meet such an increase, if it be sho^vn that 

 too large a proportion of the cost of handling milk between 

 the producer and consumer is in the form of undue profits. 

 I am not prepared to say just what form this proposed action 

 by the Legislature should take, or whether there is not some 

 other method by which this result can be secured in Mas- 

 sachusetts, but I would recommend that the Board and the 

 Legislature consider this matter carefully, and take such 

 action as may seem wise. 



Butter has brought unusually good prices and dairy 

 sections devoted to this branch of the business were generally 

 prosperous. Grain and hay continue to command high 

 prices, and those growers who depend on feeds which they 

 cannot raise are more than ever at a disadvantage. The 

 dairyman should, under all except the most extraordinary 

 conditions, endeavor to raise all of his roughage and as much 

 of the grain he feeds as possible. Clover hay, either as 

 silage or roughage, will do more towards keeping down grain 



