For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1920, the funds provided by Congress for the support of the dairy division were not sufficient to enable it to continue to pay Mr. Jones' salary. Upon application to the board of control, an allowance from the contingent fund was granted, so that Mr. Jones' services could be retained. I recommend that this work, which is of great importance to our creameries, be continued and an adequate allowance made for its support in the next budget.

FARM BOOK.

Number 15 of the Acts of 1919 provided for a census of farms for sale to be taken through the listers and authorized the use of $3,500 from the appropriation for the agricultural department and a special appropriation of a like sum to collect data regarding these farms and the publication and distribution of such data in book form. The collection and checking of this data was under the supervision of Amos J. Eaton, who has also done some work in connection with the farm labor problem. The editing of the book was under the supervision of Charles R. Cummings.

Mr. Eaton reports as follows:

"Carrying out the provisions of No. 15 of the Session Laws of 1919, the listers of the various towns of the state through the respective town clerks, reported to this office a total of 1,400 farms for sale in the state. Of this number the owners of 705 farms replied when questionnaires were forwarded to them.

Late in October a bulletin of 288 pages was issued which was largely a compilation of the information contained in the questionnaires.

On July 1st there had been sold 85 of the 705 farms offered for sale or a trifle over 12%. At that time 6,500 copies of the 10,000 issued had been distributed. A folder has been prepared for each of the remaining 3,500 copies, stating which farms have been sold and any changes in price or condition of sale for those still for sale, with sundry minor corrections, thus bringing the information up to date so far as may be.

During the past year many applications have been received from men desirous of securing employment on farms. Positions have been secured for a good number of these applicants and in the majority of cases they have given good satisfaction."

Andrew Elliott of Galt, Ontario, was employed during the fair season in 1918 and again in 1919. Mr. Elliott did judging work at the fairs and gave demonstrations of the methods used in selecting stock. During the portions of the week when he was not engaged at fairs he gave lectures at grange meetings.

Numerous addresses have been given at grange meetings, farm bureau meetings, creamery meetings, etc. by the regular staff of the department.

MARKETING OF FARM PRODUCTS.-EMPLOYMENT OF MARKET

AGENT.

During the biennial period the bureau of markets of the U. S. department of agriculture has cooperated with the state department in the employment of a state field agent in marketing to the extent of paying $1,200 annually toward his salary. M. R. Tolstrup, who had held the position of market agent since February, 1916, resigned in August, 1919. Mr. Lionel G. Mulholland was appointed in September, 1919, to this position. Reference is made to the report of Mr. Mulholland on page 40 for full particulars regarding the lines of work pursued during the period. I recommend that the marketing work of the department be continued and enlarged to include investigations of problems connected with marketing a wider range of farm crops, including particularly hay and fruit, with a view to securing a better standardization of these commodities and more profitable return for them.

COOPERATIVE MARKETING.

Cooperative marketing of the products of Vermont farms, particularly of dairy products, has made great progress during the past five years. The foundation of this development may be said to have been laid by a decision of the Interstate Commerce Commission and by a law passed by the legislature of 1915.

July 11, 1916, the Interstate Commerce Commission gave out a decision abolishing the so-called leased car system of transporting milk and ordering into effect the so-called open car system. Under the leased car system a contractor engaged a car which started from a certain point on a railroad line. By paying the carload rate from this point to destination the contractor had the privilege of loading in milk at any intervening station at which the train stopped without paying any additional charge. There were no less than carload facilities provided for shipping milk which made such shipments economically possible. Therefore, shipment of milk to the city market was limited to contractors who shipped in carloads. The open car system now in effect provides that the railroads shall operate milk cars whenever the amount of milk offered on a line justifies, that any amount of milk shall be received from anybody at a per can rate varying with the distance over which it is shipped and that a carload rate with a reasonable reduction from the less than carload rate shall be available for those who can ship in carload quantities. This open car system has made possible shipments of milk and cream from cooperative plants to small dealers in the large markets and has given our dairy farmers a much wider outlet for their dairy products.

The legislature of 1915 enacted a law relating to the formation of private corporations. In this act was inserted a section providing that any corporation using the word "cooperative" in its business name shall have in its articles of association the following provisions:

1. Each shareholder shall have one vote and only one in all matters pertaining to the management of the corporation. (2.) The interest or dividends on the paid-up capital stock of the corporation shall not exceed six per cent per annum. (3.) There shall be set aside annually not less than ten per cent of the net profits of the corporation for a reserve fund until there is accumulated a fund of not less than thirty per cent of the paid-up capital stock. (4.) The remainder of the earnings or any part thereof shall be dis