No. 4.] MARKET MILK. 25 



ou the dairy farm means long hours, hard, constant work, no 

 Sundays or holidays, — and he steered clear of these farms. 

 Boards of health have passed rules, necessary to insure clean, 

 healthful milk, that have added to the cost of production. 



At last the milk producer has awakened to his conditions. 

 What seemed a profit and a road to success proved a snare. 

 The increased cost of feed, labor and cows, the rapid depre- 

 ciation of cows and implements, the cost of delivery, and the 

 proper cleansing of utensils, etc., — made the milk really cost 

 more than it brought. This fact is evidenced by the frequent 

 auction sale of herds by those who cannot make both ends 

 meet ; by the shabby-looking homes and farm buildings that we 

 see in many sections; by depicted soils (a farm often grows 

 poorer year by year, even when everything grown is fed out 

 on the farm) ; and by the number of farmers' wives in insane 

 asylums,- or worked to such a state that life has no pleasure. 

 Young men are leaving the farms of their birth for easier and 

 more remunerative employment. The President appointed a 

 conmiission to find out what is the matter with the farmer. 



The trouble with the dairy industry is, that it has changed 

 so gradually from the selling of the surplus products from the 

 family herd into a gigantic commercial business, requiring 

 good business methods and close study of the details. The 

 time is here when the master dairyman cannot do his day's 

 work of physical labor, and then rest with untroubled brow. 

 He must study feeds and feeding, breeds and breeding ; weigh 

 the feed given and the milk taken from each cow; determine 

 the profit from each individual, breeding from those showing 

 a good profit, and eradicating the boarders ; on the same prin- 

 ciple as factories, by improved methods of bookkeeping, deter- 

 mine the profit on every machine and on every man's work, 

 and know to a fraction of a mill what every article he puts on 

 the market costs him. You know how the railroad officials 

 figure the profit or loss on each road and on each train ; and 

 wherever there is a loss, a ti-aiii is taken off or the fare raised. 

 Arrange the barns, and plan operations so that the best results 

 may be obtained by a minimum amount of labor. 



Do you know that Massachusetts has 192,000 milch cows, 

 averaging about 4,000 pounds per cow ? Do you know that 



