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the very reinarka1)lo yield of the aow of Mr. Ti-ask. left no 

 doubt in the minds of the Committee as to which was entitled 

 to the premium. There is no doubt that any farmer, able to 

 get those thirteen cows exhibited at Lynn, could make money 

 producing milk for market. 



Probably the Cows in Essex County do not average more 

 than six quarts per day for the whole year ; and if they barelv 

 pay the cost of keeping, there must be a good profit from 

 cows that produce eight or ten quarts per day, or more, as d.i 

 those thirteen cows. The question "how the farmer can make 

 the production of milk profitable," is one that has been dis- 

 cussed a great deal in this region, and one that seems to be 

 as far from settlement as ever. Farmers sometimes forget that 

 the great law of supply and demand will always regulate the 

 price. Attempts have been made in different localities to reg- 

 ulate the price by agreement among the producers, but they 

 succeed only so far as they are made in accordance with this 

 law. The means of increasing the quantity produced ai'e sO 

 easy, that whenever the production of milk becomes very prof- 

 itable, the business is overdone, and prices fall. We do not 

 mean to say that milk associations are of no value, but that it 

 is impracticable to fully regulate the price by combination. An 

 association of milk producers is valuable in many ways, and if 

 the price is too low, undoubtedly such a combination may have 

 an influence in raising it, but cannot entirely control it. The 

 price must always be regulated by supply and demand and 

 cost of production. Probably the great body of milk raisers in 

 Essex County, have seldom found the business very profitable. 

 They have in this way converted their poor and unsalable 

 fodder and their pasturing into money, and " have got a new 

 dollar for an old one" expended in labor and extra feed, and 

 have kept up the fertility of their farms, but have not made 

 much money. 



It is difficult to see how there can be much improvement 

 among the farmers generally in this particular, but individual 

 farmers of enterprise and skill may do better. The man who 



