The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1901-09-06
A CHEESE STATE.
Dairy Commissioner Mcconnell Will At
tempt TO Advance Cheese Interest
Here.

tmpl u hufduCs Sueese Intetest
Here.
st. Paul Pioneer Press:
There is an aggressive progressive
ness about the state dairy and food de-
partment under the administration of
Commissi oner Mcconnell that is
likely to prove of lasting value to the
state. Just now the commissioner is
endeavoring to stir up the farmers in
the less populated districts of the state
to establish cheese factories, and so to
utilize the milk which cannot be eco
nomically converted into butter except
where it is received in large quaint
ties. That there is need of some agi-
tation appears in the smallness of the
Minnesota cheese industry when COM
pared with that of other dairying
states Last year Minnesota had 672, :
900 mich COWS, according to the Off
cial returns, while Wisconsin had 1, :
OO3, 900. But whereas Wisconsin has
1, 800 cheese factories, or one factory
to every 557 COWS, Minnesota has but
els factories, or only one factory to
every II, 900 COWS.
There is no sufficient excuse for this
gaping discrepancy. Minnesota for
two reasons ought to make its full
share of cheese. For though butter
making and cheesemaking are two
very different things, the fact that
Minnesota has won so high reputa-
tion as butter state could not but
help to give certain prestige to all
the products of her dairies. The con-
sumner who finds Minnesota butter to
be the best on the market expects to
find Minnesota cheeses up to the same
high standard. If the same care and
friendly emulation were expended in
the making of cheese that has been ex
pended in the making of butter, the
product would find market already
opened to it. 1t would not have to
fight long for foothold. The other
reason why in the matter of cheese
making the backwardness of Mime
sofa is inexcusable is that conditions
in this state are more favorable to the
development of the cheese as compared
with the butter industry than they
are in Wisconsin. AS Mr.. Mcconnell
points out, a small cheese plant costs
$500 where a creamery costs So, GOO,
and the cheese factory is therefore
more nearly within the reach of the
farmers of a sparsely settled district.
Furthermore, cheese factory can
make money on quantity of milk
that would not pay the expenses of a
creamery. Consequently the cheese
factory is peculiarly adapted to the
many large districts in Minnesota
where buttermaking would hardly be
as profitable as it is in the thickly
settled south ern part of the state, or
as it is in almost all parts of Wiscon-
sin. For the simple reason that
cheesemaking is comparatively better
adapted to population conditions in
Minnesota, this state ought to be to-
day almost as great cheese state as
Wisconsin. But the failure of her
farmers to wake up to the fact that
cheesemaking pays where buttermak-
ing dosen't has made Minnesota take a
seat farther back than she ought to
occupy.
There can be little doubt that when
once the farmers of the sta to have had
their attention called to the facts, the
growth of the cooperative cheese in
dustry will be as rapid as that of the
cooperative creamery; for however
unapt the farmer of Minnesota may
be to enter upon unJried experiments,
he is most progressive when he once
becomes convinced of the feasibility
of any venture. Consequently if the
opportunities in cheesemaking are pro-
perly presented there can be little
doubt that there will be rapid de-
velopment of the industry in the
state at large The matter is of con-
siderable Importance because a large
part of the industry is likely to be
located in districts where diversified
ton is not so thoroughly established as
it ought to be. In the northern coun
ties entirely too much dependence is
placed on one important crop, and any
branch of agriculture that is added to
those already pursued reduces the
chance of misfortune to considerable
degree.
Ideal Farm and Home"