10 



And now right here, your committee would suggest the 

 importance of contributors to this department being extremely 

 careful to have their stock entered in the class to which they 

 belong, for it is very unpleasant and distasteful to the com- 

 mittee to rule out any from one class and place them in 

 another, or rule them out altogether, which, perhaps, is the 

 proper way, if the owner has not been careful to have them 

 entered in the right class. 



The dairy question is a very important one for this region ;. 

 is there anything that will pay better, in the way of farming in 

 the Old Colony, than the keeping of cows, whether we sell the 

 product in the shape of milk or butter? The constantly 

 increasing demand for milk at the shore during the Summer 

 affords us a good market ; five cents per quart was offered last 

 Spring, and take it at the door. To be sure, it is only for a 

 few months that it is wanted there ; but then, by getting the 

 right class of customers in Rockland, Brockton and other large- 

 places, thirty-five to forty cents per pound can be obtained for 

 good butter through the year. And then, there is the question 

 of keeping up the fertility of the farm. We often hear farmers, 

 who keep but little stock, say they can't do much farming, for 

 they have not much plant food to apply to the land. They 

 buy a little of Bradley's phosphate or some other patent 

 fertilizer, but think they only get the benefit of what they 

 apply that year, leaviug in the soil but little for the next year's 

 crops. It is very evident that, in order to farm successfully, we 

 must keep stock of some kind. It will not do to sell our hay, 

 and continue to crop our fields year after year, without putting 

 something back ; feed our hay to stock, and thus sell it iu the 

 shape of beef, butter, milk, etc. We can't get something for 

 nothing : if we want our cows to give us good returns, we must 

 feed them ; if we want oxir farms to produce well, we mu t feed 

 them. We remember reading of a farmer who, going away for 



