34 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



that is good butter. But when good butter does not exist in suf- 

 ficient quantity to supply the demand for butter, then the buyer 

 is offered on one hand a pound of poor, stale, rancid butter, and 

 on the other hand a pound of oleomargarine, which has little 

 taste or flavor and he takes the oleomargarine. If on the other 

 hand one has a dozen carloads of high class butter he can sell 

 it at a good price before supper time today, because it is scarce 

 and in demand in all the butter markets of the country. I tell 

 you that poor butter is the best friend oleomargarine has because 

 it is easy competition. If we increase the quantity of high quali- 

 ty butter and decrease the quantity of low quality goods we shall 

 in a large measure solve the oleo question. 



It takes brains to make quality whether in butter or any 

 other product. A number of years ago the farmers in Iowa 

 thought that three times ploughing their corn was enough. Then 

 somebody suggested that a fourth ploughing would be profitable 

 and our farmers quickly and willingly followed that teaching. 

 Then they have lately been taught to select their seed corn in the 

 fall, and along about Christmas they are all willing to concede 

 that they ought to have done so, but they didn't. The head work 

 is not so attractive to them, but the fellow that works with his 

 head and his hands is about fifty per cent ahead of the fellow 

 who will only work with his hands. The improvement in quality 

 whether it is the quality of our cows, or of their product, comes 

 by reason of mental energy devoted to selection of the cows and 

 to the care of their product. 



