Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1870-12-30

week ny VI. ~ AUpott, OF Clarksvilie,
Butler county:
When we consider The vast num-
bcr OF cows employed. aud the
amount Of capital that Is invested IN
dairying. the manufacture Of butter
apd chese, In this country, we are
led to the conclusion that Ii Is i bust
ness OF some Importance, thar IL il
In fact one Of the great md leading
agricultural enterprises Of the age.
The statistics of this branch or our
agriculture recently taken by the u.
:. Marshais, ! have not al vet seen.
and therefore am unable To give facts
and figures that I would desire IN
reference to Its magnitude aud inn
portance.
But taking the census of 1860. We
find It gave as the number of cows
then In use Ia the United states, to
be eight millions seven hundred aud
twenty-eight thousand eight hun.
dred and sixtylNo. sincethat time
the dairy intcftsf has increascdmuch
faster thar ever before. The price OF
butter and cheese, and especially the
latter, during and since the war, has
bcenso remunerating us to encourage
the establishment of cheese factories
and private dairics to an extent never
before known. Hence / think IL
safe to assume that during the last
ten years the number of cows will
be found to have nearly or quite
doubled; so that ut the present time
there cannot be mucl, less, If any
than sixteen or seventeen millions OF
smilcls cows now I'm use. Hut not
having tho late census at hand to
consult, shall assume that at the
present time we have In this country,
some fifteen millions of COWS; esti-
mating thecash valueof each COW to
be forty dollars lapd this Is a low cs-
innate, for in all the large dairy dis
tricts In our country they are worth
about double. this amonnt) and we
have six hundred millions Of dollars
Invested in mich cows.
I Mr.. y. A. Williams, a dairy writer
of eminence, has estimated the value
of the two products, butter and
cheese, for tlic year 1850. could not
have been less than S2go,000. 600. =
The cheese nrnduct Of 1867. Ii csti-
mated at 2o0. 600, 900 of pounds. And
large as these estimates are, they
only include the butter and cheese
.rroducts-no estinante being made of
the value of tile pork made from the
Whey. and calves raised, or milk
|soIu. "A DO not say that these sssi-
nates are ei,tirely correct, but be-
lieve they viii 30 found % behenrIy
Ese, mid will fall below, rather tI.au
exceed tho true statements, 1t all
|eventsthey npproximate sufficiently
near for my purpose, which Is toEive
some idea OF the capital Invested in
and the ilnportance of the business
under consideration.
If hnd time, would like to In
Iiroiuec Statistics Of some of the
Other leading agricultural produc-
tions OF our country, and show by
comparison that the dairy interest Is
far in advance OF that OF any other.
Butenough perhaps has already been
given to convince all that the dairy
interests in this country are of N,
small Importance that il is I'm fac
second to none of tho other grea
branches of American Agriculture
But vast and important as IL IL,
hazard nothing in saying that thi
interest Is now only in its infancy
aud that both in immensity and til,
! quality of its goods, the next ten
years will witness even greater i'm
provements than the last ten ha
done. / make this statement be
cause the spirit of Improvement ha
taken hold Of this particular interes
In earnest, and where SO much re
mains 10 be learned, and especiall,
as it will pay to learn, we know tha
Improvement aud accumulation vii
so on.
Since the Inauguration of the sys
tenn of making cheese 10y factories,
vast improvement in the goods i
seen. But with all the late improve
ments that have been made, there 1
set room for still greater. There i
perhaps no other article mannfae
tured I'm which there 10 as much poo
goods made as i'm the article O
cheese, and ] know of nothing tha
requires SO much skill and judgmen
In manipulating us cheese. Tie rea
sons for this are obvious, mt once
when we consider that the condition
OF the milk, tho atnlosphere--hea
and cold-dryness or moisture; th'
coagulating agent, and very many
other agencies used, are continual,
changing.
Could the dairyman always coun
upon the same conditions in tn,
agencies used, then he might manu-,
facture an article which would bs
uniform ia appearance and texture
aud having brought his goods up tc
the desired point, ne could easily du
plicatcit. But, until oil the agencies
used in making and curing cheese
become uniform, the same one day al
another, the making OF a good article
will very much depend upon tic
close observations. good Judgement
and skill Of the operator. Since the
Improvement noticed In American
cheese, corresponding Increase in its
consumption has taken place In oul
own country, and our foreign cheese
trade has also largely increased. Our
exports of cheese 10 Great Britain
alone i'm 1867, amounted TO 50. 1000, ,00(
Of pounds, aud II is believed that fol
the current year they will be nearly
or quite double this amount. Thi.
large and increasing trade In this ar.
ticle, is believed to result from the
fact that the American Factories
have produced superior quality oI
cheese to that ever made, with less
competition by private dairies. =
Could the factory systea,. ne now
practlced SO extensively In all the
large dairy districts IN our country
be more generally introduced