Year: 1879

. LACK OF SYSTEM. ...


Now what shall we do as remedy for the
present defective system, or rather lack of sys-
TEN, rs now practlced in butter and cheese
making in this State?


First-I would think it OF the greatest i'm
portance that dairymen's 8 board of trade be
established in this city and Minneapolis, where
butter and cheese may be sold without the in
tervention of the middle man in the market AS
is SO generally practiced in the cities of the
East, securing greater profit to our producers
We need in this city or Minneapolis general
dairy furnishing store that would keepa COM
plete outfit for cheese and butter factories;
milk cans, and a full line of furnishing goods
for butter and cheesefactories and farm dsiries.
We should no longer go to Chicago and Elsin
for this line of goods.


ADVANTAGE OF ASSOCIATION.


We cannet too strongly urge the advantage
Of association or the factory system of making
both butter and cheese Sixteen Years apo
this system as to cheese making was introduced
by a skillful dairyman, by the name of viii
liams, in Oneida county, N. Y. He obtained
high prices for his cheese. He found that he
could buy milk of his neighbors, and manu.
facture it into cheese and sell it for more than
they could get. His example was followed,
ard it led to the establishment of thousands Of
a.
Later, better factories (creameries so-called)
were introduced, which have all the advantages
over the farm dairy plan as the cheese factory.


The advantages Of the factory system arc IN
making uniform quality, and with skilled
persons to handle the milk, fine quality of
goods as we'll as saving the expense of fitting
up suitable rooms and implements for making
on the farm, and the saving to the wife and
family OF great amount of work in having
the milk taken to a factory.


DROUTH.


Here would digress from this subject a
moment to repeat what l stated to YOU a wear
ago, that ''statistics tell US that all over t. c
Eastern and Northern States cereal crops are
seriously injured by drouth or other causes
once in three or four years.


- The total loss of crops in Il large area Of our
State Tor two and three years in succession
from the ravages of grasshoppers, the early
part of last the prospects of an
abundant yield of wheat was never better. but
which proved such disastrous failure in the
southern part of the State, that those made
the most money by applying the torch and
burning over their wheat fields, instead of at
tempting to harvest their crop. shows very
pai. ly the folly Of taking so many chances
on the production of single crop. L can not
better illustrate the prccarious profits Of pro-
duclng crop of wheat than to quote Il part of
a letter to me from farmer of Mcleod coun-
~, dated Jan. 7th, last. The writer says:
I'VE have been we'll off until the shoppers'
came and eat us out year after year, and this
year, with the blight of our wheat CROP VIC
are worse off than ever before. We have had
to mortgage our farms to get along, thinking
next Year would be better. but it is worse and
worse for us. We can not pay our interest so
they take our farms from us.


DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES.


Now those farmers have to leave what would
have been the fruits of their labors had they
practiced diversified farming, and seek free
homcstcads, and make new effort to succeed.
growing Of grain crops. The production of
good crops is generally attended with low
prices. Then we arc SO distant from the great
pOpulous rcnters for consumption of our sur
plus grains, i'll the Eastern States and Europe,
that their carriage by rail cat up the small
margin left for the labor Of production, and
the cry is 'har,l times We can no longer
charge this to the high rate of freight charged
ny railroad companies VIXEN we consider the
distance they have to carry these productions
to reach our consumers.


l am satisfied that the railroads between us
and the seabnarl cities are carrying our surplus
productions as cleaply as they can afford to,
ana that The owners OF stock in these roads do
not begin to receive the return from their in
VcStmcnt that VIC would if We had it, in ac-
commotlatlng neighbor with loan.


CHEAPER TRANSPORTATION


We see this docs not do, and the CRY is for
cheaper transportation to the East. This de-
manl brought together the great convention
recently in this city to press upon the atten-
tlon Of Congress the immediate necessity of
improving this great internal water route of
this country. that has its Western terminus in
this State. That will be of great benefit to us,
but Is closed SIX month i'll the year.


CONCENTRATION.


hacf oh nc
pursue, as dairymen and farmers Of this State,
both now and in the future, is to concentrate
our productions into the least bulk possible.
We now have the invention Of refrigerator cars
that can take the beef fattencd upon the mil
lions of acres of our free grasses, dressed ready
tor the stalls of the meat market in any of our
largest Eastern cities, or it can be transferred
to vessels fitted up for that purpose and landed
IN Liverpool, and take the preference by our
English cousins over their own beef cattle,
Concentrate our corn into pork, more of our
grasses into wool and we have served the prob
lem OF cheap transportation, comparatively at
least Actual experiment has demonstrated
the fact that: wool shipped from this our
climate of dry, pure air, to New York or Bos-
ton, will gather more than sufficient weight in
moisture in transit to pay the freight. S.ill
more, Of the q, 900, 600 acres of the prairie
grasses growing i'll our State. which chemical
analysis shows to be more nutritious than
eiAlotAS, Jt CUHSCItGu through our
milch cows into butter and cheese, which in
cost OF transportation follows close upon that
OF wool in reaching our customers, as we have
so much value concentrated in SO little bulk
that the rates of freight compared with that of
wheat Or other grains is insignificant, and the
difference is but trifle in comparison whether
it goes east by water or rail.


BUTTER FACTORIES.


Let lis again turn our attention to the sub
ject of butter factories. 1t is nv belief that
the sooner they are constructed and patronized
by farmers the sooner will the great North Star
State get a reputation equal to Jones county,
iowa. My belief for this is founded upon the
fact that the few butter factories es-
tablished in Minnesota have proved success.
1t IS very evident that these few factories have
been started by men who thoroughly under
stand their business. They have this past sea-
son especially, established splendid reputa-
tion by the introduction of their goods into
other States and obtaining good, round profit:
able prices for their goods Col Thompson, of
the Wells factory, has received good prices and
established good reputation in 81. Louis for
his butter.