The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-10-02
The Dairy.
THE DAIRY BUSINESS.

THE DAIRY BUSINESS.
Address by Geo. M. Whitaker, Editor New
England Farmer, Read at Farmers Ma
tiOnaI Congress, Colorado Springs, Aug. %.
The up to-date American dairyman
at the end of the nineteenth century
is an extremely intelligent, level
headed man. AS we hear him speak
at dairy meetings or as we read his
communications in the papers we
marvel at the breadth of his knOwl-
edge of animal physiology, b]acteriOl-
ogy, aud the allied subjects neces-
sary in his business. The average
successful dairyman of today would
rank with the most advanced scient-
ist of five years ago. Yet strange to
say, hundreds and thousands of dairy
men r deficient in available knowl-
edge though with many differing de-
grees of ignorance. This seems I'M
accountable when we consider how
cheap and how accessible all dairy
information is. Nothing but pure
-shiftlessness can account for the
cloud of mental darkness that sur
rounds those who have not ambition
enough to use d postal card for send
ing for bulletins, to eXpend a days
time in attending an institute or to
invest a few dollars in books and
newspapers. The average cOnven-
ton audience is not made up of those
who need it the most, but of intelli-
gent, progressive men who have i'm
bibed enough at the fountain of
knowledge to acquire a thirst for
more.
TWIN EVILS.
Ignorance is mot the only stumbling
block in the way of the best quality
of dairy products. C~arelessness IS
it's twin. A story has been told me
by a person who handles large
amounts of milk of an intelligent
farmer who at one time sold him
considerable milk. It was received
in such "a filthy condition hat the
purchaser was obliged to remOn-
strate. But this proved of no avail.
Several cans of this milk We're
strained, the cloth was carefully
dried and the cloth with adhering
dirt were sent to the gentleman to
illustrate his methods. 1t has fire.
quently seemed to me that if a per
son entirely ignorant of dairying
should take up the reading of dairy
literature, he would express great
surprise to find with what persist
ency and frequency the injunction
to cleanliness is laid down.
Carelessness is the great bane of
dairying. In hardly any other line
of manufacturing would such a pri-
mary, fundamental, self-evident
truth need to be so emphasized and
50 frequently repeated.
H DAIRYMAN IS \ MANUFACTURER.
The particular line of thought
which I wish to develop at the pres
ent time is that the dairyman is a
manufacturer, and that the ordinary
laws of business apply to him as we'll
as to the manufacturer of cloth or
iackknives. This statement will be
without dispute as it is pre-
sented to you, but it is frequently
overlooked by the Needless, especially
when plausible attacks upon other
classes r made by designing dema-
gOguesA more anxious for personal
popularity than for the true inter
ests of those for whom they assume
to labor. Moreover, the expanding
of this simple truth may lead to
some interesting thoughts and sug-
gestions.
The primary essentials in manu-
featuring in the matter of produc-
ton second, executive, the ability
to produce at the lowest possible
cost third, commercial, the ability
to sell and at a profit.
EXECUTIVE SKILL.
Much that [ have said about tech
nical skill could be repeated under
the head of executive skill, because
a man of good executive ability will
readily acquire technical ability, will
be intelligent and progressive and
will not be carelessly filthy. And
yet there is a difference between
executive and technical skill. A
business man, a manufacturer, with
no technical knowledge of dairying
could in many cases turn loose to