02 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



twice as many people altogether as there are on the farms. 

 There are about as many homes in the cities as on the farms. 

 In other words, there are two homes for every farm, one fam- 

 ily on the farm and one family in town. The family on the 

 farm has the first rights in the stnif they produce, and the 

 man in town is dependent for his board upon the surplus. 

 In the case of shortage, who goes hungry ? The man depend- 

 ing on the surplus. Who, then, is most affected by improved 

 agriculture ? The farmer gets the first good, but the city 

 man gets greatest good, in the study of agriculture. All 

 this is beside the question, but it is a thought I always like to 

 bring out. 



Mr. S. II. Reed. Can you give the death rate per thou- 

 sand in the country, where children are raised on the cow's 

 milk, and in the city, after the handlers have handled that 

 milk? 



Professor Washburn. I cannot. I doubt if the figures 

 are obtainal)le ; certainly I have never been able to get them. 

 A comparison conducted between cow-fed and breast-fed 

 babies is not an entirely fair one. The dairyman might keep 

 his milk entirely clean until it w^as delivered to the mother, 

 and then the mother might do something to the milk that 

 would injure it. It is ignorance and neglect and selfishness 

 in the home, nearly as much as outside the home, that cause 

 death. There would not be nearly as many deaths as there 

 are if the milk were carefully kept after it reaches the home. 



Mr. Reed. Is the producer to blame, or the consumer 

 either, any more than those who take the milk from the farm 

 and carry it to the city ? 



Professor Washburn. By all means, no. The uses to 

 which milk bottles are subjected in the city homes are some- 

 thing awful, in many cases. It is a problem not for the 

 dairyman alone, nor the agriculturist alone ; it is an economic 

 condition based upon many things, including tradition and 

 greed. 



Afternoon Session. 



Secretary ELESWOUTrr. I will introduce as the presiding 

 officer for this session, Mr. John L. Smith of Barre, repre- 

 senting the Worcester West Agricultural Society. Some of 



