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it has ceased to be profitable to raise beef in this section of 

 the country, and the farmer whose object it is to produce 

 milk, grumbles because he can get only a very low price 

 for his cows from the butcher, when he should be studying 

 to see how to make the cow give more milk. 



The speaker quoted statistics to show how competition 

 had effected the production of live stock in New England^ 

 he disagreed with Mr. Russell the speaker of the morning 

 who had said that sheep could be profitably kept in New 

 England. In Massachusetts between the years 1863 and 

 1885 the loss of mutton raised was eighty-nine per cent.y 

 and beef about in the same ratio. 



With cereals the tendency is the same way, though they 

 do not amount to so much. Their production has fallen off 

 forty-seven per cent, in forty years. 



But the speaker did not wish to be understood as de- 

 claiming on the decadence of Massachusetts farming. On 

 the contrary, agriculture in this state is being brought into 

 new and more desirable limits. He didn't believe there 

 was a better place in the whole world than Massachusetts 

 to-day. The farmer's present field is to supply products 

 that are perishable. The demand is constantly increas- 

 ing. The consumption of milk, for instance, has increased 

 enormously. The speaker argued that it would pay better 

 to keep cows for milk than to raise sheep. He believed in 

 a cheap milk supply, and in increasing the capacity of the 

 cow. Civil laws have been passed for the protection of 

 producers and consumers. Now let the natural laws 

 operate for cheap production. 



A better quality of butter is demanded, and this our home 

 farmers can supply. More fresh vegetables and fruit miglit 

 be raised to good advantage, and very profitable increases 

 are noted, particularly in regard to cranberries and straw- 

 berries. The demand for eggs and poultry is also con- 

 stantly on the increase, and so is the production at good 

 prices. 



Competition means with the Massachusetts farmer a 



