Crop Eepoet for the Month of July, 1912. 



Office of State Board of Agriculture, 

 Boston, Mass., Aug. 1, 1912. 



The current issue of the Crop Report will be of especial 

 interest to those who are engaged or interested in the dairy 

 industrv. The milk situation in our large cities is becoming 

 more and more of a problem, and while it is an established 

 fact that, in food value, milk is worth to the consumer even 

 more than he is now paying, it is also a fact that the price 

 which the producer receives many times does not equal the 

 cost of production. To relieve the tension of the milk situa- 

 tion three results must be accomplished : first, the consumer 

 must be educated to the point where he will be willing to pay 

 for milk in comparison to its real value, as to quality, and 

 as compared to other foodstuffs ; second, some system of dis- 

 tribution must be established whereby the cost of bridging 

 the gap between producer and consumer may be reduced; 

 third, the producer must acquaint himself with modern 

 scientific methods, which will enable him to produce larger 

 amounts of a better product at the same or reduced expendi- 

 ture of time and money. These problems will gradually 

 find their solution. According to our most successful pro- 

 ducers of the present day, the silo as a means of furnishing 

 succulent winter feed, and supplementing the scanty feed 

 which pastures offer during the dry summer months, is one 

 of the means of cheaper production. The article in this 

 issue, by H. O. Daniels' of Middletown, Conn., one of New 

 England's foremost practical dairymen, deals very forcefully 

 with the subject of " Silos and silage." Coming from a man 

 who is practicing what he preaches, it should drive home the 



