20 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



milk economically. The tendency of the times is toward 

 specialization, and this in milk production may or may not 

 mean a smaller number of producing units, but it does mean 

 producing units of greater efficiency and larger capacity. It 

 may mean more or fewer cows, but it positively means better 

 cows. It may mean more farms producing a larger quantity 

 and better quality of milk, and it probably means fewer farms 

 producing a comparatively poor quality of milk as a some- 

 what neglected side issue of a small general farming business. 

 The business of milk production cannot forever and should 

 not longer be held below a level that renders the sale of milk 

 unprofitable when its production is well organized under 

 fairly good management and on a strictly business basis, in- 

 dependent of all side issues. 



The cow is necessarily the unit in milk production, which 

 may be and sometimes is carried on independent of other 

 farming operations ; but as usually conducted, the herd should 

 be considered as the home market for farm crops. The effi- 

 ciency of every individual cow in the herd as a manufacturer 

 of milk from farm crops must be known before her owner 

 can justly claim to be a well-informed dairyman or a good 

 business man. The cost of milk production is doubtless un- 

 necessarily high on many farms, where loose business methods 

 prevail and where positive information regarding the sources 

 of profit and loss is not definitely known. 



According to the best information obtainable, the smallest 

 individual daily shipment of milk to Boston is one can of 

 S^z-o quarts. The largest shipment from a single farm is 

 about 80 cans, or G80 quarts per day. The average shipment 

 from the farms of IS^ew England is said to be about G cans, 

 or very close to 50 quarts per day per farm. This, seemingly, 

 is rather strong evidence that milk production is not at pres- 

 ent, as a rule, carried on as an independent business along 

 well defined business lines, and that but comparatively few 

 milk producers are utilizing their whole time or executive 

 ability in tlie business. Milk production, instead, seems to 

 be largely a side issue, carried on in connection with general 

 farmino-, which also is usually conducted on a rather small 



