and of a
drifting, nomadic spirit; and from the city, the latter a sinister,
dangerous element, whom the farmers fear and suspect. On a large farm,
with five men in employ, the farmer may expect to replace one man each
month; and to replace his whole force at least once a year. So
changeable are the minds of this class of laborers.

Those who are married are somewhat more stable; but of the others it is
asserted by the farmers that out of their wages they save nothing.

There has been a rise in the price secured by the farmers for their milk
in the past ten years, but it has been only for limited periods. The
variation was from 1.9 cents and 2 cents, the price in 1895-98, to 3
cents, the price paid in the winter of 1907. In the summer the price is
always lower. The farmers have no control over the price paid them for
milk, nor have they control over the prices to be paid for labor,
though of course in this matter, there is room for a certain skill in
bargaining and for the lowering of the total wages paid on the farm
through the skillful employment of the cheaper kinds of hands.

There is also a difference in the price paid for milk by "the Milk
Factory," a plant established at the railway in the past ten years, in
each dairy-town. This establishment takes milk from the poorer dairies
under conditions less exacting than are laid down by some buyers, and in
consequence pays a price correspondingly lower than the market rates for
milk and the higher prices secured by the better farmers.

One energetic farmer, who has in the past five years had large farms to
manage, on hire, or on shares, has prepared milk for hospital use in the
city, meeting the exactions of inspection, and the prescribed care of
stables, animals, workmen and receptacles in a way intolerable to the
average farmer. He receives in return a price twenty per cent above the
market rate.

The effect of the above conditions is seen in the fact that in the
twelve years under study nine owners of large farms have "given up the
milk business," have sold their cows, or keeping them have made butter
and fatted calves for market. The profits to be made in dairy-farming
are so small, unless the farmer conduct his dairy in an exceptional
manner, or on a very large scale, that the average man on the Hill
cannot continue it. Indeed, the average farmer on the Hill is unable
through lack of vitality or incapacity for application, to conduct any
business, successfull