388 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



the bars would be no advantage to the milk business. The 

 bars have been let down, however, with an emphasis in 

 many cases, courts imposing a penalty of five, ten or twenty- 

 five dollars, where formerly fifty dollars was the minimum 

 fine. This shows a wide range between the judgment of the 

 framers of the old law and of some of the district judges. 

 But there is one advantage in the change : it is now much 

 easier to get a record of a first offence, as a small fine is 

 paid with less fighting and less appealing than a larger one. 



Educational. 



The educational portion of our work has been less during 

 1900 than during some previous years, for financial reasons. 

 The general agent has responded to nineteen calls, involving 

 the preparation of several papers. In the early history of 

 the Bureau the Babcock milk tester was a novelty, and much 

 work was done in familiarizing the dairymen of the State 

 with its use by exhibiting it at institutes and making 

 public tests of milk. Now that this, one of the most im- 

 portant products of the nineteenth century, is no longer a 

 novelty, but has become one of the regular and indispensable 

 appliances on hundreds of farms, this class of calls has 

 grown fewer. Some work has been done in making milk 

 dealers acquainted with the story the Babcock tester tells 

 them. Fat beina: the variable element in milk, a test of the 

 fat of normal milk will throw much light on the amount of 

 total solids and of the standing of the sample tested in 

 relation to the statute standard. One institute has been 

 held during the year under the auspices of the Bureau ; this 

 was in connection with the Springfield Milk Dealers' Asso- 

 ciation. The food value of milk was the leading topic of 

 the meeting, and a synopsis of some of the statements made 

 at the meeting has been published as u Bureau bulletin. 



The general afirent of the Bureau is on call to address 

 as many meetings as his other engagements will permit ; 

 especially would he be pleased to explain the work of the 

 Bureau and what it is doing, thus bringing it into closer 

 touch with the farmers of the State. The members of the 

 Bureau will also respond to similar calls. 



In view of the laro;e milk-consuming interests of the 



