SOY Sine tart

a ~ 0 ale ox

fs

1879.
s 1

OF THE

feLiNOolS

‘Stave Dumvwen’s Association

AT ITS
FirtH ANNUAL MEETING,
HELD AT THE CITY OF

BEGIN, TEI DECEMBER 10, 11 AND 12, 1878.

PUBLISHED BY DIRECTION OF THE ASSOCIATION.

ELGIN, ILL:
DAILY LEADER STEAM PRINTING AND PUBLISHING HOUSE.

Sih OF
Mat Ny Way , A
ae aie ee SM cae ut ica
4 Nya j

BOMAL ED rhe
ep | ~

iy
PfAy

PROCEMDINGS

OF THE

ILeEE NOUS

STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION,

AT ITS
FirTH ANNUAL MEETING,
HELD AT FHE CITY OF

PeGinetei DECEMBER 10,11 AND) 12, 1378.

PUBLISHED BY DIRECTION OF THE ASSOCIATION.

ELGIN, ILL:
DAILY LEADER STEAM PRINTING AND PUBLISHING HOUSE.

18709.

Or
PANG
Lean

fi;
ith ui

(ificers of the Association

FOR 1870.

PRESIDENT,
Dr. JOSEPH TEFFT, Enxein, 11.
SECRETARY,
M. H. THOMPSON, Etern, ELL.
TREASURER,
R. M. PATRICK, Mareneo, IL.
VICE-PRESIDENTS,
Hon. NATHAN WILLIAMS, Rock Fatts, §.1..,
Hon. Wm. PATTEN, Sanpwicn, ILt.,
S. W. KINGSLEY, Barrinerton, JL,
Dr. J. WOODWORTH, Marenco, I44..,
J. R. McLEAN, Exern, IL1.,
ISRAEL BOIKS, Davis Junction, IL1.,
LUTHER BARTLETT, Barttett, I1ui.,
Pror. F. H. HALL, Sucar Grove, Iu.
I. H. WANZER, Oneipa, IL1.,
CHAS. BOONE, Wiynepaco, Iit.,
JOHN SMALLWOOD, Freeport, ILt.,
Gen. L. B. PARSONS, Frora, It,
Capr. W. H. STEWART, Woopstocx, ILL.,
_ H.W. MEAD, Hesroy, I11.,
N. ELDRED, Giiman, IL.

The sixth and next annual meeting will be held at Marengo,
Illinois, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Dee. 9, 10 and 11, 1879.

Mile M BIE RIS

OF THE

TLLInois STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION

FOR 1878.

PRGA Sy GUY itooe shes vec wade nec nese wad oe Laoag mA neiaa ute On Naame ‘Elgin, Illinois.
ERO RO Oia uenivate cence s/f amuaea af ela sadaa aie sobs Roek Halisiaay

IB. UVR VAD cL sie, ciotuniet eile geet Ne eed a cn Rta wereeeee Hon,
Balene tt, hoi ie evccesoves tele ee met helaecas aso mseaecees tae Aurora, ~
Bishop, Thos........ wt ee aid OI ered ee at talons ah cs eee Elgin, .
Bartlett, Discs toc. Bese, oie A Mgp NOMEN ceeespin qOla Nise: US ae nee Bartletesa a
Ba rmess RICH ATG sh. 9. Cots cde cet peace, 6) lone eas mee ere Belvidere, .
BRO VITRE SMIW s Breer saat Satcs ytnt sau tremens Een Dundee te

IB ISIO Dy TOMY ese ade Myrick Se taec clase ne un tr cae eel aN eta Elgin, 7
BOS WOW the PoC, 2c ak ccecnseniousen ud Seettea te noel twee CRRA ie emer ia =
Barclay, Do By. .te. 04: g Laieseuiecaeiedyclslelcletee elk Oka Eee Ral are begs Reet i "S
Bo brat Wa WW) cond orate oak ants aaa tcc apes ange ea orate Marengo, ES
Boyd, John..... aU tS aciRe Aci k ae Oat ase NOt, 175 Lake St., Chicago, .
Boies, Israel......... Siete a hate stig AO dra ee crt Davis Junction,
Burrtems Waal )bckg oso ue open te daede oth tab neh somes cen oc ceeas Genoa, “
Bosworth, FP) S)-------..-0.-7.--- eM cove Sten aN UE anaes Elging ie
@mel VAU Becks he Gee evs aoa Ale a it a ee the
Q@UER COES, HB One cute deuce la reaeab vate tes aise acsuiaoas Mee Sante 5 Mote Peotone, eS
Mon wPemy aie cts sdee seen es sa elle kedhe Cth oes Seta Witenes Elgin:
Chen OU cask cea cet MGR sy ee meta See eee vanes 7 nr
PENS GOMN ISS ii eS os aes Mech cet vsel ee oe He Bee i ce
ARBRE ACR NV Wil nee sae icatine cree deta sion sa: weMencews Wiest Geouaceeamee aiee Fs =f
(Groat. J dR seceneerse ASS UR BE AHR ARG asa MAI AH At KK. Burlington, i
(AOU) aes pee rneete emmte nese VG Wei neeIonatC ul fears Gre Jee, Si Hilpan yam
Gillbertyie cs Cts oho eas ih Meanie aloe atom ule seeae ceaouas Elgin, i”
Hawthorne, G., BW. cells. k ee. REIL ain GUNA AR AON Sh s “
licyyate el tans ahi terres vate ssc aseeatenicanee Sr aoasaccte de eleneelnes Burlington, Wis.
eminent WSS oes. .noe ae Sree ees Peer si AeA sai 8c Elgin, Ilinois.

Kingsley, SIVA ele SSS a tee IIS RAMAN vie aur AE SN ead Leia e ca DMcliee c P ee Dundee, ¥

~

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 5

HS eapthl in, dl CUI | BEQH BRAS AN AA Me ane oils 28 ele ne ees ae nner iN Elgin, [linois.
Toaripem@e, Oe Taegan ae On a aU ee en ene nie aint cS fe
Mier ey eee ree eth asa cals e durent ae eaieehbeaed aaulslaenon tddemace e sf
RETINA Lic css sscacsie dsnesianscbiceas cwenvceeresaasa tar dose Grundy Co., i
EM OMOINAR GS OD. -'.s- ctcccee tse tee sccivascee es ssewete tele des Woodstock, i
PPM NON My erica. voc onie raids ypelselsioaic'sci (ans ctl win’ Set telsvng pact nake Elgin, 4
MMC WNME ER 2 See enol ns saainie disney celvadinece sods evens deans Stileiacelniiah a cr ef
ianohiy, J. M..-.......... AO SEs ba a Gilmore, Lake Co., 3
A etetrs TOPPA ls setae aio sacle eirsielgelessiniseits co osiacsias eden cdcip wbecen assests Elgin, if
DUMB SMS eee cree wos osisisls ccisie tote tuiemiatunideavinwisleweaviejeedgenes eae des *}
Da MN eee ie since cs isdvele nsalsteninaee acl senics <ahisicecineweleeccaatess " if
PPS EO CTE Oless ss sales sce decaceneccoucnecteccsatsedces basecsecsess Genoa, “
MULMMVIR NG ic se scale ares cease che cingiame's sy anitieiumtislois tse cesedeleeedessec Elgin, ra
BME MP VIN 25 ses nc bmoundhes oooscdelecsies sees 1a RECA: RI SUR Sandwich, 86
PINCH UH te 6 oo concise lac ea chvc Lacinse ebdocsgeegedaavees Woodstock, ef
Beery M MD ec saifoiscase « dapesieeiesiecscsncsecbeinseeasscenedevses Marengo, MG
SC MMN RMLs ce co ors coc cin sot sie cioe one dalnevicuinoastwas essiddeseirceses suse Elgin, i
yecieldl, 1D, (Co asetem cao nee ase ree eon ae eee on eee a eae “ ot
Weitt, JD, dissasocbedecgedonnehanone sae scel a HesenELe Her aaaEe Pe aREnnras ag
SAMMONS Sic oie daisice doc vierieihaceiel so en eescicle nce deisidte tis calsce of
MU epee MM lI ME as ayae ele ae casing vc\Voasescwsinicedorecd@ ane evsileetodeees Batavia, tt
Mier GI elaMM eerste ewes oa seise ce duokcSleskctaeadedbline coslscneete cance css Elgin, a
Pie miM IMSS) cite acsbeie rience cen ssonncseseceracestanecsass Daunte ees “f Ss
Sliemen Osa O AGEN ches cNeicies voces cescwecnsinies secione nie sas se csisee cs i
MURTOMEMNTO SUMMA NM ML (oso. oo cates sep essa sesicseicecs cece sesaciieiges se ode a by
PCTINOMM MC I) ccc cn wsidsocesecesesones eve ne HENNE aces cua de Springville, Iowa.
VIO OPUS reels caec selves sas cidh Wesccceseesee) sgeedci oan ces'ssesslsidasantie's Elgin, Illinois.
WOME CLCT HS: ite t Ssckose ecsesecectewescmccctsesoenesoenne St. Charles, ef
Wap OHNO seis cisco. ceva seitinecceeacccceeecstensedsecnactacce : Kc
BCU ts caso sos os rosdso sien scsstassc ices lated oes secatcecs «duce Blotns 0c
MMTV CTMSH VE coo de ccc eScaleccesssientseedilcseeaccaseenestivecsthensee sa OEM rs
AMaeEUMEI WV , Gio ec scscdeceees coves cenu’s [eget ae AS Barrington, oc

Digitized by the Internet Archive
_ in 2012 with funding from

yan

iversity of Illinois Uroana-Champai

iv

archive.org/details/annualreport

PLLINOTS -

STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION,

FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING,

HELD at Exon, Itts., DECEMBER 10, II, AND 12, 1878.

Excin, DEc. 10, 1878,
2 OCLOCK NM:

Convention called to order at 2 p. m., with President
TEFFT in the chair; when after some preliminary remarks,
relative to the dairy interests, the president read the fol-
lowing address:

DR. TEFFT’S ADDRESS.

FEeLtow Citizens, DAIRYMEN oF ILiINoIs:—Universal custom
has made it incumbent upon the presiding officer of gatherings like
this to deliver an opening address, regardless of his opinion or quali-
fication to meet such an emergency.

Then, to add to our embarrassment on this occasion, the execu-
tive committee of this association have gone on and parceled out to
gentlemen the available topics for discussion from which a well-
directed talk could be made, and left for us the only chance to direct
our thoughts between wind and water, without the liberty of touching
either.

You will please permit us to say that we are happy to meet you
here to-day on this occasion, and in behalf of the dairymen of this
vicinity you will please allow us to extend to you, one and all, a hearty

8 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

welcome, hoping and trusting as we do that your sojourn with us will
result in good to all.

The time allotted unto man for his abode on this earth is entirely
too short for him to commence as our first parents did, at the begin-
ning of the world, and study up, step by step, the various improve-
ments down to the present day in farming generally, and dairying in
particular. Therefore men are wont to learn the experience of others

through the press or by personal associations with their fellow man.
- Taking a survey of our country generally, we find those agricultural-
ists or dairvmen who are most in the habit of associating themselves:
with their fellow man, far better informed in that which pertains to a
thorough knowledge of agricultural pursuits in their various forms,
than those who choose to isolate themselves almost entirely from
their social relations with their fellow co-laborer.

Dairying serves to improve and elevate the mind of those who
are engaged in its pursuits, on account of the daily intercourse which.
necessarily belongs to this branch of farming as now carried on in
this section of the state.

The dairymen, together with those engaged in other branches of
agricultural pursuits, hold the most important position of any class in
this country. Weasa people can far better dispense with all others
than with this class.

Yet we see many of the young people of the farm rushing into
the village or city and leaving the farm labor to be performed by
hirelings (who usually aave but little interest other than to pass the
time and take their money and depart) or by their aged parents.
The result of this in many cases is, the farm is neglected, contingent
expenses arise, to meet which the farm has to be mortgaged, and
sooner or later, should this state of things continue, will be swallowed
up by the increasing dues and eventually go into the hands of the
capitalist. In this we are only following in the footsteps of our illus-
trious cousins in England, who have allowed 10,207 capitalists to own
about two-thirds of all the realty in that country.

We seriously question whether the God of nature ever made or
man ever invented, a higher or better calling for the young, active
person, male or female, than that of the honest farmer or dairy-
man’s life.

It seryes to more fully develop the muscular system than all
other professions put together (if we except the mechanical), and

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 9

thereby lays the foundation for health, beauty and future happiness.
In looking over our criminal docket we find but rarely the name of
the farmer or dairyman there; visit our penitentiaries and the ruddy
face of the farmer is scarcely ever found there. Turn your eye to the
hangman’s gibbet, but net te find the dairyman or farmer there ; for
they much prefer te stretch hemp by hand or horse power than by
that finer attachment to the cervical portion of their bedies. Look at
us, located as we are in the valley of the great Father of Waters, in
a country rich in the component parts of that which goes to produce
and sustain plant life, perhaps the richest in the known world—if we
are to believe the report of Mr. Cobden, an English gentleman whe
visited this state at or about the time the Illinois Central railroad
was being chartered and built, and who made or caused to be made a
careful chemical analysis of specimens of the soil from various parts
of the state. His report to his fellow-countrymen (if our memory
serves us) was, that the soil of Illinois which he examined, cont»ined
more of the principle necessary to preduce and sustain vegetable life
than that of the valley of the Nile, which has long been considered
the richest in the known world. English capitalists, believing his
statement to be true, eagerly sought the stock of this railroad, and it
was soon built after the charter was obtained.

We now see how fully time has verified Mr. Cobden’s statement
made many years ago, of the richness of our soil, by the amount of
actual productions of the state, the marketing of which has become
a serious desideratum with the farmer at the present time.

It would appear advisable that the farmer should condense the
products of the farm as much as possible, before sending the same
forward, as he thereby reduces the amount to be paid for freight.

It costs, at present rate, about one-eighth of a crop of wheat to
freight it from Chicago to New York. In flour it would cost less,
besides having bran and shorts to feed stock. Corn costs nearly one-
third of the crop to freight it as above,but in starch, glucose or glucose
syrup, would cost less; also if put into pork or beef, but would cost
very much less if fed to cows and put into butter and cheese. Butter
costing only one-thirty-sixth and cheese about one-seventeenth part
of the product to freight as above.

We estimate that the production of butter in the United States
the present year, will reach in round numbers about 653,000,000 pounds.
Of this amount, the people of this country will undoubtedly consume
about 630,000,000, and we shall probably export about 23,000,000.

10 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

We also estimate the production of cheese to reach in round
nambers about 315,000,000 pounds. Of this amount the United States
will consume about 180,000,000, and we shall export about 135,000,000
pounds. :

England imported in 1875, 181,418,496 pounds of butter, at a cost
of 24 cents 9 1-10 millsper pound. Of this amount the United States
furnished only 6,360,827 pounds, which was sold in that country for
23 cents 6 9-10 mills per pound, being about 1 1-3 cents less than
- butter brought from other nations imported the same year. The
largest importations in that year were from Germany, Holland, Den-
mark and France. The home production the same year was estimated
fully equal to the whole importation. This holding true, the con-
sumption of butter in England for 1875 would be a fraction over 143
pounds per head for the entire population. The importation of
cheese into England in 1875 was 182,158,256 pounds. Of this amount
this country furnished 101,010,853 pounds; being considerably more
than half of the amount imported.

This importation, large as it may appear, is claimed by the
writer in the Encyclopedia Britannica to be but a small part of what
is actually consumed by the people of that country. The amount
imported as stated above, would give to every man, woman and child
of England, about seven and a half pounds per annum. This would
be very nearly twice the amount used per capita in this country.

Our exportation of butter and cheese being almost entirely to
England, perhaps it may not be amiss for us to take a general survey
of her financial prospects for the future, as well as her home pros-
pects for a continuation in the production of dairy products. Her
imports in 1876 overall exports amounted to about $873,000,000. The
present year they must much exceed that of 1876. Should this state
of things continue in the future it will only be a matter of time when
her resources will become exhausted, as no people or country—how-
ever rich they may be—can long continue to live, financially, with a
heavy annual balance of trade against them.

The census returns of England and Wales for 1861, show that
1,833,652 persons were engaged in agricultural pursuits in that year,
and in 1871 the number had decreased to 1,447,481, a dropping out of
386,171 persons from this pursuit in ten years. Nor isthisall. The
decrease of cattle for the three years ending in 1877 was 374,686 head.
This shows a large falling off; but shall we wonder at it when we
come to know that the average estimated annual rental value of the

ILLINOIS STATE’ DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. If

whole lands of the country is given at fifteen dollars and four cents
per acre! Now the question is, can English dairymen afford to pay
the above rental price of land and continue in the dairy business, so
long as we are allowed to put our dairy goods upon their market for
only about one cent per pound additional cost to their value in our
markets? We anticipate the answer that may be made right here
that our cheese is not as good as their home manufactured. We can
but admit the fact—for it is without doubt a fact—that within the
last two or three years we have sent them much poor butter and
cheese,

It is also a fact that we have sent them much that will compare
favorably with their home make or other importations. In verifica-
tion of this statement as to the richness of our own cheese, compared
with other brands found in the English market, you will please
allow us to give an analysis of some six different brands of cheese
reported in the Encyclopedia Britannica, a work of English produc-
tion, which should be perfectly reliable in statistics and facts given
so far as that country is concerned. Therefore we quote from it the
following :

ANALYSIS.
BRAND. Water. | Caseine. Fat. Milk | Asht.
Sugar. | Salt.
Stilton (Supposed to be panes s cream to

: morning’s Milk)..............sscsccsssesseees 20.27 | 33.45 AZLGSN) dlecaseancaase 2.20
Double Gloucester ........ .....ccsssssecseoceees 33-41 27.75 32.69 2.23 3.92
Cheddar, full cream ....c..cscceceesscosenceeeceee 30,32 28.18 35.53 1.66 4.31
American full cream......... .....sseeeeeeccceces nee. 2O)) | | 5,87 35.41 6.21 5.22
Parmesan (Skimmed)..........0..sscecsssseseeees 27.50 44.08 15.95 6.69 5-72

Neufchatel (Reported wholly cream) | !
(ENGESE. ssncdsacodadoctcnossses AOE SL Ce oae antares 36.58 8.00 40.71 15.80 | 0.51

It is much to be regretted that the different markets which we
select to place our butter require so much difference in make. Butter
salted for American consumption would hardly be tolerated in the
English market.

Cheese made for the Southern trade requires to be flat or thin,
while a flat cheese is not wanted in the English market. Therefore
our dairymen are required to make a different sample of each of
these staples to suit the market for which it is destined, and if a sur-
plus on one of these markets the other may take it but very reluc-
tantly, if at all.

12 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

In our recent visit to New York city we found that market not
over-stocked with either prime butter or cheese, while at the same
time we found a large accumulation of a poorer quality of both.
Perhaps much of this poor article will hardly be sold at any priice—
saying nothing about a remunerative price at all.

Now, in our judgment, the continuation in the manufacture of
such an article is suicidal to the best interests of the dairymen of this
country. In justice to ourselves we should put nothing upon a for-
eign market but what is strictly prime.

France, with a less acreage of land than Texas, exported to
England in 1867 $11,000,000 worth of butter, while the whole United
States only exported $1,184,367 worth. While France is largely in-
ereasing her export trade in butter to England, we have fell back
from $7,234,173 worth in 1865, to only $4,424,616 in 1867. No doubt
there is a cause for this large dropping off with us, and it behooves
us to look to this matter with an eve singly to its importance.

On motion of C. C. BUELL it was voted to accept the
president’s address, and that the same be printed in the
proceedings,

It was now voted to take up the topics as arranged in
the programme, and proceed to their discussion.

Topic No. 1—“ Grasses; the best varieties as adapted
to our soil and climate ”—was taken up, when the following
paper by W. J. Burpick, of Whitewater, Wis., was read:

W. J. BURDICK’S PAPER.

“Improvement of Grasses and Grass Land by the System of
Surface-culture.”’

The value of good drainage cannot be overestimated in pro-
moting the health, wealth, happiness and prosperity of mankind.
In the physical organization of the earth those means were not over-
looked by its Divine Author, in external and internal formation,
whereby man can improve it to suit his peculiar views and interests,
Hence the success of the improvement of grass land will depend
upon the degree of its drainage.

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 13

- One of the most formidable obstructions to securing good drain-
age is mill-dams, located on the natural base-line. which cause
serious damage to agricultural interests in their locality. In our per-
sonal examination of grass land, we have seen thousands of acres of
good agricultural land that in its present condition is almost entirely
worthless, caused by the check of natural drainage. In the discussion
of this topic we shall assume the position that good drainage is the
first requisite, in agricultural pursuits, to secure success. The first
important work in the improvement of grass lands is to secure good
drainage. Hence, to know where to locate drains is a question for
careful study and close examination, to secure the best results for the
least expense. To secure good drainage, it is very important to obtain
a good outfall to the base-line, which will greatly increase the value
of the cross-sectional drains. We are aware of the fact that we cannot
give a general formula how to drain all classes of land by the same
class of material, as the surface of the land is very diversified in its
formation, varying from the bluff-rolling, to almost level plains. We
would recommend the V-formed open drains as being superior to
those of other forms. The V form will make a stronger bank, also
the particles of alluvium will not form at bottom of the ditch, because
it will increase the velocity of the volume of water flowing through
the ditch. The size or dimensions of a drain will depend upon the
volume of water you wish it to convey, and also the condition of the
surface of the land that you wish to drain. Hence these two condi-
tions will require a careful examination before locating a drain.

After securing good drainage, our next work will be in preparing
the soil for the introduction of the grass seed. It is a well-established
fact that we are a strong exponent of the system of surface-culture
for the improvement of grass lands, in all of the various soils and
conditions of the surface. I am well aware of the fact that Iam con-
tending with a time-honored institution—the use of the plow in the
improvement of grass land—but nevertheless we are willing to sub-
mit our experience in this ulass of work, and also the specimens of
grasses grown under our supervision, for the inspection of those
present. We will note a few of the many reasons why we believe
the system of surface-culture of grass land to be superior to the use
of the plow, to-wit: That we are obeying nature’s law, in this sys-
tem of work, in preparing the soil to receive the grass seed. This
position is demonstrated in the biblical history of grass, as we learn
there the agricultural implements were very rude in their construc-
tion, and meant to perform the work required of them to do in pre-

14 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

paring soils to receive the different varieties of seed, which was only
surface work. Yet what a luxuriant growth they obtained!

We will now pass over the intervening space of time, to more
recent date in the history of the cultivation of grass by the system
of surface-culture. Look at its history in England, Holland, Germany,
Scotland, and other progressive countries of Europe! Land that has
not been plowed during the past 200 years, the rental value increas-
‘ing in proportion to its age. Even in many of the New England
States, grass land that the virgin soil has never been broken by the
plow produces the very richest quality of grasses grown in these
states.

We will now notice our experience in the improvement of grass
land in the North-West. In the year 1853 the writer located near the
city of Oshkosh, Wis. Heard the general complaint about the grow-
ing of tame grasses, and it was an admitted fact that Wisconsin was
never designed to become a dairy state of any importance, or even
the respected state of Illinois. It is wonderful to contemplate the
change that has taken place since that period to this time, relating to
the dairy interest, of which you are all informed as to its progress.
We know by experience that the looser we make the soil with the
plow we increase its capacity to receive heat, which will aid rapid
evaporation of moisture, so very essential to promote a strong growth
of vegetation, especially that of grass, which was one of the principal
causes in the loss of the young seeding in the early settlement of the
North-West. Again, another reason for the loss was this: Chemical
analysis of wheat and Timothy hay shows that they require about
the same elements from the soil to sustain a vigorous growth. Here
the farmer was disappointed in the unsatisfactory growth of his
favorite grass, which was timothy. The writer has a thorough agri-
cultural education, one naturally adapted to the growing of grasses,
Here on the old homestead was my instruction in the system of sur-
face-culture in the improvement of grass lands. At the time of
writing there is grass land that has never been broken with plow,
upon the old farm, yielding a very generous supply of grass,
very good in quality. About eight years ago was commenced the
work of improving the grass land in the North-West, with the view
of securing a smoother surface for the working of machinery requi-
site in securing a crop of hay. Our work was slow and expensive’
Only a few men could afford the expense, as the cost ranged from
$9.50 to $10 per acre for the labor and other expenses added thereto,

{TLLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 15

After we had leveled the surface of the land, cur attention was called
to obtain the variety of grasses adapted te the various conditions of
‘the soils.

Allow me to introduce specimen grasses, grown on all condi-
tions of soil of the North-West, also by the system ef surface-culture.
I will mention a few of the many varieties of grasses that are suc-
cessfully grown in the North-West. I shall mention all of the
English names that I can apply to them: Timothy, red-top, bent-top,
white er brown tep, orchard, foul meadow, meadow fescue, rough
meadow, sheep fescue, meadow oat grass, I'alian rye grass, floating
fox tail, sweet-scented vernal grass, Kentucky blue grass, spear
grass, blue grass, eragrostis, etc.

Among the family of clover we have the following list: Alsike,
commen June, alfalfa. mammeth Italian, white and crimson.

All of the grasses that I have mentioned are adapted to the soils
of the states of Wisconsin and Illinois, if they were introduced and
cultivated. From this list we select the combination of grass seed
suitable for all class of soils, as we are seeding lands by the system
used in England, with a large variety of grass in mixture—this has
often been explained in previous writings. Since one year ago last
June I have been located in Craw Fish Valley, engaged in the work
of superintending the improvement of grass lands with the latest
improved machines, of which I will submit the following report:
My first client, C J. Millard, manager of the Rock Lake creamery,
located about two miles south of the village of Lake Mills. Cost of
labor, $1.85 per acre. Land very rough in many parts. Varieties of
grass and seed used—timothy, red-top, F. M. clover, sown in the
spring. My next client was H.C. Drake, proprietor of the Drake
cheese factory. The cost of labor was less than the work for Millard.
The cost of seed the same; also the same combination—Alsike and
red clover, sown in the spring. My next was Messrs. Wm. and Geo,
Everson (patrons of the Rock Lake creamery.) Cost of labor about
$1.50 per acre; cost of seed the same as Drake’s, also same combina-
tion. I was very busily engaged in this class of work till about the
first of December, cultivating and seeding several hundred acres of
grass land. I wish to notice the result of the work, in the yield of
grass those parcels of land produced, also the value of good draining.
The young seeding of Mr. Drake’s meadow was yery light; caused
_ by excessive moisture in the soil, produced by the mill-dam across
the Craw Fish river, which is causing very serious damage to a large

16 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

tract of excellent agricultural lands. This meadow of Mr. Drake’s
has been cultivated and seeded to tame grass. I will say that I
seeded about nine acres of Hungarian stubble land, and cut about
two tons per acre the first mowing, on the farm of Drake’s. I havea
sample of the grass grown on that thirty-three acres, which I wish
to call special attention to the rapid development of this seeding,
caused by good drainage,as the soil on the Everson lot was considered
to be inferior to Drake’s Iot. Hence here is a proposition demon-
strated, that the growth of cultivated grasses will depend upon the
condition of the drainage of the soil, as the yield of hay on Messrs.
Everson’s was about one and one-half tons per acre, while on Drake’s
it was but about three-fourths of a ton per acre. Again, the thick-
ness of the sward will be in proportion to the dryness of the soil.

I am pleased to report to your respected secretary that we have
meadow land that was cultivated and reseeded under our personal
supervision that is yielding three tons of good, nutrictous hay per
acre ; also pastures that are producing good grass in sufficient quanti-
ties to supply all the feed necessary for neat stock, at the rate of one
acre per head, through the feeding season. Those pasture lands are
reseeded with a large variety of grass seed, adapted to suit the condi-
tion of the soil. We find the first stratum to be nature’s combina-
tion, as it has received the grasses from the rains and also from de-
cayed vegetation, which it has utilized to promote a rapid growth, as
is demonstrated by the specimen in our collection.

I object to the use of the plow, as it destroys many valuable
varieties of grasses that are not reseeded, which greatly increase the
value of these lands in promoting the interests of the dairyman and
stock-grower. Again, when the low grass land has been broken with
the plow, it is very uncertain when you will re-establish another sod
of any strength and vigor, as the grass will vearly decrease until it is
entirely gone and its place is taken b¥ obnoxious weeds, which is
very often demonstrated in various sections of the North-west. When
we introduce the cultivated grasses into the soil of the native grass
land by the system of surface-culture, the young plant has the pro-
tection of a portion of the native grass until it gains sufficient growth
to withstand the changing influence of the atmosphere to which it is
exposed. Again, when the surface of the soil is preserved by the
system of surface-culture there isa steady decay of the mature grass,
and it becomes plant food for the young plant of grass, till they are
entirely destroyed by the cultivated ones. Again, I object to the

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION, 17

use of the plow: as it is more expensive than by the system of sur-
- face-culture with the aid of improved machinery, even if the results
were alike, though we claim the preference in favor of the system of
surface-culture.

We will now review the second division of this topic with the
comparatively and relative value of the grasses in our collection.
Those grasses that are adapted for permanent pasture land are those
which will reproduce undershoots or blades, at the base of the col-
umn or stem, when cropped off. With Kentucky blue grass, or June
grass, red-top, orchard, meadow fescue, white top, pod annie, pod
compspa or blue grass, sheep fescue, eragrostis peclurica hordim juba~
tim, Italian rye grass, sweet-scented vernal grass, fon] meadow—all
of the above-mentioned varieties are grown in the states of Wiscon-
sin and Illinois, therefere they are acclimated to the condition of the
soil and climate.

For upland pasture the orchard grass will produce the largest
per cent. of feed in a given time. I have known it to grow at the
rate of an inch to every twenty-four hours, for several weeks. This
grass is a great favorite with the men who have tested its values, in
our section of the state. The meadow fescue is a very valuable grass,
and 1s well adapted to the upland, also to the lowlands; if they are
well drained. This grass does not mature as soon as the orchard.
My specimen is from eight first seedings. The sheep fescue is very
much like meadow fescue in its growth. The Italian rye grass 1s do-
ing very well in our vicinity, which can be seen by the specimen we
have in our coliection. Agroslus alba, or white top, isa very valuable
variety of grass, which grows quite extensively in our lowlands, which
produces a large yield of feed much sought after by all kinds of stock.
The foul meadow grass cannot be too highly prized for the lowlands.
This has become very popular within the past few years, as it is giv-
ing universal satisfaction to all who have introduced it into their
lands. It flourishes as well on quite moist land, and yields often
eight tons per acre. The past fall I have cultivated and reseeded one
hundred acres of lowland for A. R. Earl, Esq., one of the farmers in
the town of Astalon, Jefferson county. Used a strong proportion of
the foul meadow in the combination of grass seed ; also mixed with
the combination of grass seed about sixty bushels of dry, unbleached |
ashes. Demand for this valuable grass seed is very rapidly increas-
ing each year. All of the varieties of grass that we have named are
adapted for the dairy stock-grower’s farm.

18 ILLINOIS STATE DAYRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

For meadow seeding I would change the varieties in the combi-
nation, selecting those that mature at the same time. I would
recommend the eultivation and reseeding on old meadow lots in the
months of August and September,to secure a good yield the following
season. I would use a prime dressing of a prime compost manure
while cultivating the soil, thereby thoroughly mixing them to-
gether. Then sow the combination of zrass seed and harrow lightly
with a smoothing harrow. 1 am now referring to upland meadows
Lowland meadow I cultivate soon as the grass is mown, even in the
month of July, but do not sow any grass seed until about the 20th of
August. Sow seed until the 13th of October. Continue the work of
cultivation until there is a low temperature, so that the seed will not,
germinate ; then resume the sowing of the grass seed and let it freeze
with the soil and grow in the following spring.

Pasture lots on upland I cultivate soon as the frost is out of the
ground in the spring of the year; reseed and hold it as a reserve lot
until about the 19th of June, when it will be in a splendid condition
to use, producing feed the balance of the season without injury to
the young seeding. Lowland pasture lots I cultivate and seed in the
fall of the year, mowing the first two crops of hay; thus it will
become a very strong sod, so the feeding of stock will not mjure it.
In relation to the quantity of grass seed sown per acre, that will
depend upon the condition of the soil, also the variety. English au-
thority says that when a lot of land is well seeded, each square foot
of land produces one thousand one hundred healthy grass plants. I
am using thirty-six to forty quarts of mixed seed per acre, with good
results. American seeding will average about one hundred and
seventy-five plants per square foot. I observe that when I use a
heavy seeding I am not annoyed with a strong growth of obnoxious
weeds, and also will have an improved sod on the surface of the land
which has been cultivated.

I will now state that all varieties do not mature at the same
time, as perchance there are some persons present that would claim
the grasses were very much crowded while they were growing. The
combination is formed by mixing the earlier and later varieties
together, which will cause a steady growth of grass through the en-
tire season, thus affording a generous supply of feed for the use of all
classes of stock.

I have often been asked this question: ‘“ What length of time
will those lands remain as you leave them, when they are culti-

YLLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 19

vated?” also, “ What will be the condition of the grass a few years
hence?” {I will answer the first question by saying that will depend
upon the way in which they are used. If the stock is allowed to run
over the pasture lots when the soil is quite wet it may produce rough-
ness on the surface, but generally they will remain smooth. In rela-
tion to the last question, that will also depend upon how they are
cared for. Over-feeding on grass land is very injurious to the long-
evity of grass, especially on meadow lands. I believe if the farmer
would not allow stock to feed from his meadow land on any condi-
tion whatever that it would increase the yield of yrass 25 per cent.
When the first blades form in the early part of spring they are very
essential in promoting the growth of the later-growing blades, and
when they are cropped by the feeding of stock, the effect is as injuri-
ous in retarding the growth of the plant as though it had been
severely frozen, which will cause a light yield of grass.

Again, I would recommend early cutting of grass, to maintain a
vigorous growth, as in that condition the plant has stronger vitality
to nourish the forthcoming blades. This position is demonstrated in
all of the early-mown meadows, compared to those cut later in the
season. Look at the beautiful rich dark green color of the early-
mown blades; what a giant-like appearance by the side of the poor,
pale, feeble look of those later cut. The timothy plant is very pecu-
liar in its growth, and being a bulb plant, it is naturally adapted to a
dry soil, which can be seen by the various specimens of the plant in
our collection of grasses. The bulb is nature’s store-house of moisture
from which the column draws a supply, increasing its demands until
it is fully matured, leaving the roots of the plant very weak in their
vitality, which will cause a premature decay. Hence the timethy
plant was designed by nature for dry soils and early clipping to secure
a strong and vigorous growth. I would not recommend the sowing
of timothy on low, moist land, as this retains a greater degree of
moisture through the hours of night, and when the scorching rays of
the sun come in contact with excessive moisture on column it will
cause the fungus on roots, which greatly decreases its nutritious value
fer winter feed. Hence here is a serious mistake with many in
sowing timothy on lowland meadow as the base of their seeding, for
there are other varieties of grasses that will grow most luxuriantly in
that class of soil and withstand the attack of the fungus.. Among
those varieties foul meadow is the most prominent in maintaining its
deep green color through the entire season of its growth. Also
meadow fescue and orchard grasses are not easily affected by exces-

20 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

sive moisture of the soil. I am well satisfied that timothy is far
more superior asa pasture grass than for hay, as it is No. 7 in the
grade list of grasses for its comparatiye value. And again, timothy
will lose about 55 or 60 per cent. in curing, while the orchard will
lose only 29 per cent., meadow fescue 31 per cent., foul meadow 44,
rough meadow 31, and red-top 48 per cent.

I wish to call the attention of dairymen to this fact: that timo-
thy is not so valuable a grass as it is accredited to be. I suspect that
this position will draw out criticism from those who believe that
timothy is superior to all other varieties of grass. In relatior to al-
falfa, it is thoroughly tested that there are many thousands of acres
of land in Wisconsin upon which the alfalfa will become the leading
erop for the dairy herd. I have examined prime fields of the alfalfa
growing in many sections of the state. The class of soil that is natu-
ral for the growth of alfalfa is a rich loam underlaid with clay-mixed
sand subsoil, and that stratum resting upon gravel formation, as the
alfalfa will root very deep, and this class of soil is thoroughly under-
drained in its natural formation. In regard to this clover I will
submit the following report: The sapling or mammoth variety is a
very valuable clover, if it is properly cultivated, for several reasons,
to-wit: Ist. It has a porous root which will withstand the influence
of the alternate thawing and freezing which is so disastrous to the
common red clover. 2d. It produces a very large amount of feed
per acre. I would recommend feeding this clover until about the
10th of June. Then cut a crop of hay or seed. Under this treatment
you will produce a very prime quality of hay, as the columns will
not be coarse, as though it had not been cropped off. 3d. For a fer-
tilizer I would allow it to grow till the blossoms are formed. Then
summer fallow the field. Alsike clover is a valuable plant. The
alsike is fast becoming a favorite with those that have tested its
merit. I have used a large amount of this seed the past two years in
the combination of seeds. I use about one pound of seed per acre.
I have a specimen of this clover that measures five feet in length. I
am using it quite freely in the lowland. It is a very hardy plant,and
does not winterkill like common red ciover, as it has a fibrous root.
I would not sow this seed upon too dry soils, as it dwarfs in its growth.
The Italian clover is doing very well in this secton of this state. It
has a very soft stem ; is not harsh as the common red clover. I have
a specimen that I selected the past summer that measures five feet in
length.

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 21

Trifutim incarnation, er crimson clover.—I am not entirely sat-
isfied what the result of experiments with this clover will be, as it
will require another season to determine its value. The value of the
common red clover is too well known to retain it, except it can be
cultivated so that it will produce a fibrous root. This result is pro-
duced with this system of surface-culture by sowing seed on cultivated
sod land. This is the reason why this clover so long retains its strong
vitality. I have examined this clover that the seed was sown ten
years ago. This clover will grow a root in proportion to the condition
of the soil. If the soil is pulverized very fine and deep, it will grow
a very long, deep root. I do not sow any grass seed with the cereal
grains. I highly cultivate the stubble land if the crop has been
secured. Sow the combination of grass seed from the 15th of August
until the 15th of September, excepting clover ; leave that to be sown
the following spring. I have seeded stubble land by this system and
cut two tons of hay per acre from it next season. The principal cause
of losing young seeding when sown with spring grain is, that it is too
tender to withstand the scorching effect of the hot sun when the
grain is removed; also the soil is in a very porous condition, as the
- following experiment has demonstrated, to-wit: When the thermom-
eter indicated 70° atmospheric heat, in clay soil it would indicate
130°, sandy soils 107°, alluyial or black soils 110°. In highly fertilized
soils the degree of heat is still higher. Again, I find the degree of
heat varies in proportion to the drainage of the soils. On the lowest
or cold lands, and on those affected by cold spring water, the vegeta-
tion is the latest in growing. Hence, this experiment demonstrates
two potent facts, to-wit: 1st, The absolute necessity for good drain-
age. 2d, The lowland is the most natural soil for the production of
grass. Also we have the varieties adapted to these soils, which are
giving the very best satisfaction to all the parties that are engaged in
the improvement of this class of soils.

In relation to the condition of the lands we are engaged in cul-
tivating, I say that we are prepared to improve all classes of land,
from the very rough to the very smooth surface, even the willow-
erowing land, at a cost less than to subdue them by the system of
plowing. Also, we have in our collection eighteen different varieties
of grass. seed; therefore we are prepared to give formulas of the
combinations of grass seeds to suit all conditions and varieties of soil,
as we have thoroughly tested these grasses and know their value in
comparative and relative forms.

Ze ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

In conclusion J will submit the following proposition for the
consideration of those interested in the improvement of grass land,
to-wit: That the improvement of the grass land is the first work to
insure a higher quality of the dairy product. 2nd, That the value of
the products of the cow is in like ratio to the quality and quantity of
the food and the care she receives from the herdman. 3d, That the
grass lands, when they are properly drained, cultivated and reseeded
with a combination of grass seed adapted to the soil, will yield a
greater revenue than any other class of land, in ratio to their expense.
4th, That in work of improving the grass land by the system of sur-
face-culture, we promote the growth of many very valuable
varieties of grasses, adapted for the use of the dairy herd, which
would greatly enhance the value of those lands that are destroyed by
the system of plowing, and are not replowed in the reseeding. oth,
In the reseeding of these lands with a combination of grass seed,
adapted to suit the different varieties of soils, we increase the yield
from 30 per cent. to 200 per cent. per acre.

_C. C. BUELL was a new beginner come here to learn.
His farm was composed of a variety of soils, mostly prairie,
and of a sandy loam—most too sandy, and was mostly re-
claimed from wet soil. His upland produced clover freely ;
his lowland, Kentucky blue grass, or June Grass, which are
one and the same. His upland was all right—he could
handle that, but the lowland was what caused him trouble.
Cattle would punch it up or ( bog it.” Had fora year or
two put his harrow onto it, and then seeded with red-top
and timothy. This year mowed it and got a good crop.
Could not say as this plan would do for all lands. Had
read much of the writing on the grass question, but thought
all statements should be made based upon actual experi-
ence or definite knowledge.

FE. H. S—warp said that the question of grasses was at
the bottom of our success as dairymen; no dairy region
could prosper where good grasses could not be produced.
There were a great variety of soils in this state; they must

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 23

all be treated differently. Often the same eighty needed
several kinds of treatment, and as many kinds of seeds.
Red-top wants a wet soil. Clover needs a deep soil, as it
roots very deep. Much of our lowland was now’ coming
into red-top by a process of natural seeding. More seed
should be used, not wait for nature to seed for us. Timothy
seems the most natural grass to our soils, and will thrive on
any vegetable loam soil—but that it easily winter-kills is a
mistake. It is the fall drought which kills it; it isa bulb
plant and must have plenty of moisture. Clover is the best,
all considered: it yields the most abundantly, will produce
more milk than timothy, but not quite as good for pasture
as red-top or blue grass. It is a mistake not to try to make
our land yield more grass ; there is too much loss; we must
use more fertilizers. Top dressing is good for grass. Clover
_ not only yields a great profit, but it is in its nature a fertil-
izer, preparing the way for other crops, especially for oats
and corn; we should all raise more—should alternate with
our crops. And all should remember that grass was the
farmer’s “ backer.” :

C. C. BuEtt said some recommended muck for a top
dressing for grass lands. Some was good, some worthless.

Mr. JOHNSON wanted to know as to the expense of
making new land by the use of muck. He lived on the
prairie, where help at from $15 to $23 per month made it
too expensive ; could see no profit in it.

C. C. Buett could not tell as to exact cost or profit of
using muck. He knew that to make all the barren places
in our farms productive would remove many “eye sores.”
He believed the wet places should be made dry, and the
poor ones productive, regardless of cost.

24. ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION,

EE. H. SEwarp thought, as to muck, it might not pay
for the first year, but for a term of years it would cer-
tainly pay.

J. R. McLean, if not for a bad cold, could “ knock the
socks” off from Buell and Seward. He did not blame
Seward for drawing out his “ muck holes,” but he did not
believe there was any pay in it. Clover and timothy are
natural to our soil. We did not asa rule use seed enough.
He used to use his thumb and finger to scatter the seed, but
now his son runs the farm and he takes a whole handful.
Red-top is not fit for anything; cows can’t eat it—they
would require a new set of teeth each year. Cannot rely
upon it in mid-summer ; will not stand drought.

D. C. Scorietp : How is it for hay?

McLean: It is poor for anything. He knew of one
piece of land in the East which had produced hay for 38
years, and when he had last saw the hay it stood as high as
his chin—this was natural seeding, of mixed grasses.

D. C. ScoFIELD inquired as to the proper time to cut
timothy for hay—whether in the blossom or seed.

McLean did not admit that in the blossom to be the
best time ; thought a little riper to be the best time.

C. C. Bue.t inquired if any dairyman had any experi-
ence with browse as feed for dairy cows. None had.

E, H. S—Ewarp: Had never kept a record of the fall-
ing off of tame grasses to a normal condition. This could
only be determined by a record for a period of years.

A member asked McLean as to the best time to cut
hay to produce the most milk.

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 25

McLEan said his experience was to cut in the dew or
milk of the grass, the best time.

C. C. BuELt thought this a very important question,
and should be thoroughly discussed, so as to get more
light upon it.

SEWARD thought the statement of McLean, that hay
should not be cut until the seed had fallen, should not go
out to the public; the fact was, timothy had two blooms—
first a white, second, a blue bloom—and should be cut in
the first bloom, at least for him. Scofield was reminded of
an apple: it was good only once, to-day and not to-mor-
row. If a farmer has 100 acres to cut, he cannot cut it all
in a day or two. When must he cut, green or ripe?

| Sewarp thought this a common sense question. It
could not all be cut in one day, therefore some would be a
little too green and some a little too ripe, but the average

just right.

A member thought the farmer who had 100 acres of
hay, had better have 50 acres of it in corn.

C. H. Larkin wanted to know about the two blossoms
on timothy; did not understand it; thought all plants were
allowed only one blossom each year,

SEWARD: It may not be true that timothy has two
blossoms. The first might change color; perhaps it did.

A member had lived on the Western Reserve ; used
small teams, plowed shallow, and raised poor crops. New
settlers came in, with large teams, plowed deep, and sowed —
clover, and were soon raising large crops. Believed clover
the cheapest fertilizer the farmer had. If cut early it would

26 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

seed itself. As to cutting early or late, he believed Mc-
Lean’s theory correct. It should be really ripe, but for
milk it should be cut green.

S. W. KincsLey inquired as to the mode of using
clover as a fertilizer.

C. H. Larkin wanted to know which he could do the
cheapest, draw manure three-fourths of a mile, or use clover.

O. C. Diccins: Would draw the manure. To plow
in, was the general mode practiced where clover was used.

W. W. BincHAm thought to spread on a coat of dry
straw and plow in, was as good asa coat of manure. After
some further discussion of this question—

No. 2—“ Soiling ; is it profitable to the dairymen of
this state? And to what extent?” was taken up.

W. W. BincHAM: Could not say much on this ques-
tion from experience. Had farmed but little. Knew a man
who kept sixty cows upon one hundred acres of land by
means of soiling. His own plan was to drill in his corn for
fodder ; used five bushels of seed per acre, and obtained a
very large yield of fodder. Also used oats cut green for
soiling. Sowed three bushels per acre. Found this to be
good feed for soiling. Kept his cows in the stanchions
twenty hours out of the twenty-four. Kept twelve cows
on six acres of pasture. His farm contained thirty-six
acres. Intended to keep twenty cows as soon as his farm
was in alittle better condition. Raised nine acres of corn.
Bought five tons of bran. The remainder of the feed was
raised on the farm. Of good milk, twenty-one pounds was
sufficient to make a pound of butter.

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 27

C. H. Larkin: Knew nothing about it at all. Had
no definite figures to give. His neighbor, Judge Wilcox,
had made experiments. Hoped he would be here.

C. C. BuEtx had supplemented his pasture by feeding
clover. After second growth often fed rye and corn.

C. H. Larkin: Did you feed it as a matter of neces-
sity or for profit ?

BuELL: Fed it for profit.

Dr. TeFFr: Said the French farmers made more
money than we from their land and dairies. Many only
used ten acres; and upon these small tracts, highly culti
vated, they supported large families; and even laid up
money. But economy, of course, had to be practiced.

Mr. Jounson: Doubted if fancy farming paid.

On motion of R. P. McGlincy, the Chair appointed E.
H. Sewarp, W, W. BincHaAm and BEnj. Cox as a financial
committee.

On motion, adjourned to meet at 9 a. m. to-morrow
morning.

28 ILLINOIS STATE. DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION,

WEDNESDAY, 9 A. M.

Convention called to order as per adjournment, and
the discussion of the programme resumed.

Topic No. 3—‘ The supply and demand of dairy pro-
ducts; and their future market.” Upon which question
Capt. W. H. Stewart read the following paper :

CAPT. W. H. STEWART’S PAPER.

Without going into statistical details of what the supply is--or
the demand, which I suppose is measured by the.consumption, since
there appears to be quite an accumulation of surplus,—it is sufficient
to know that whatever may be the demand, for a long time at least,
the supply will be readily forthcoming.

The real question that crowds upon us is, how we may reduce
the cost of the supply and increase the demand and consumption. I
have no doubt that by a practical adoption of the rule of the “sur-
vival of the fittest”—by carefully weeding out from the herd all
animals which do not come up to a high and advancing standard, and
then, by warm and healthful quarters, generous and appropriate feed-
ing and kind and careful handling; the cost of the raw material may
be very much reduced and value increased.

The question has frequently arisen, whether we would not soon
get to indulging our American right and custom of riding a good
thing to death. And the present stagnation and accumulation seems
to excite suspicion that the dreaded time had arrived. Yet I think
not, except accidentally. The general pinching financially compels
the shortening of sail and running close. When cheese is used as an
extra—a luxury—it goes by the board, and the drying up of the mil-
lion little streamlets, each in itself of no great consequence but in
the aggregate works a fearful shrinkage of the main river. For this,
as dairymen, we can only wait and hope for the better time coming.
While waiting, one thing—which I think is a greater, a more per-
sistent and permanent cause of staying consumption—we may study
with profit if it leads toaction: Kinds of food generally are a matter
of taste. Taste can be educated. Its gratification grows into a habit.
Habit makes a necessity, and the necessity makes a permanent,

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 29

steady demand. The English, especially the poorer classes, are said
to be a cheese-eating people. They have been educated to it. Doubt-
less at first, through hard necessity, to fill an alimentary requirement
caused by a want of flesh beyond their reach. But the habit being
formed, its gratification has become a necessity. Hence the absorp-
tion of the wonderful quantity of cheese that is annually shipped
from our growing surplus. Situated as we are, there is little danger
of our being forced to the use of cheese for the want of meat, yet the
taste can be very much sharpened by tickling the palate and coaxing
the frequent and general use by constant satisfaction.

Since the commencement of the factory system of making
cheese, the use of it in this country, in this very way, has grown to
magnificent proportions. It was evidently a goose that was laying
golden eggs. But instead of nuturing and encouraging the goose to
increase her laying, I fear many of us have gone for the goose as the
old story reads—we have stolen her fat for butter and left the eggs
tasteless, worthless, saleless, goldless. For two or three years the
manufacture of skim cheese has increased to asad extent; and what
_is the outlook?

Just at our sorest pinch, when financial stagnation is pressing
us with a heavy hand, our goods are tramps, roving about everywhere
begging fora market. A shrug of the shoulders, and the stereotyped
phrase of the price current, “ Only fine mild cheese at all saleable,”
and that slow and pulseless, is the polite rejoinder. Shading prices
even are received with unmeaning indifference.

Go and interview for a little while the retailers in this city.
Say they—‘ We have been unable to obtain a respectable article of
cheese, and a little goes a great way. No one wants it, and it doesn’t
pay to keep much.” And so it is all over. The president of this
society and of the Elgin board of trade—where millions of cheese
are annually sold—is compelled to import from outside districts
cheese for his own consumption that is fit for his table, his board of
trade for the sale of skims being unable to furnish it.

The fact is, the home consumption, notwithstanding the low
price, has fallen off at least seventy-five per cent., while it ought to
have at least twenty-five per cent. increase. This alone would bring
to the trade wealth and happiness. More than this, by sending the
life-blood of the cheese to the butter-tub, you not only kill the cheese
trade but smother the butter trade as well. If with the new year we
can with honest money content ourselves, with honest goods as well
I can only see fair sailing in the immediate future.

30 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION,

Cart. STEWART further said that oleomargarine was
better for butter, than skim cheese, was for cheese. He
deprecated the making of skim cheese. It was not fit for
use ; and should not be tolerated.

Joun CoLtett: Was at Quincy a few days since. Saw
in agrocery store, a good, full-cream cheese. Asked the
grocer where he obtained it. He said, New York. We can-
not get good cheese in Illinois. They do not make it.
They skim too much.

Tue Cuairr said, they do not skim as much in Wiscon-
sin, but find a ready sale for their cheese.

T. McD. Ricuarps: Thought every factory should
brand their cheese, as to quality. If skimmed, sell it for
just what it was. As long as there was a demand for skim
cheese, factorymen would make it. They could make more
money by so doing, but if all products could be sold upon
their merits, no harm would be done.

E. H. S—Ewarp: Thought an inspector might be ap-
pointed, to brand cheese, as well as to inspect wheat. A
‘law should be passed to regulate the whole matter. It
should be sold for just what it is worth. As it now is, IIli-
nois cheese stands as low as any state in the Union, and is
still on the down grade. Wisconsin makes better cheese
than we do, and finds a quicker sale. Illinois factorymen
skim as long as they can see anything to skim.

R. P. McGuincy: Did not thinka law could be passed
in Illinois to regulate the matter. Had had experience in
this matter. EEndeavored to have a bill passed preventing
the adulteration of milk; but the average legislator could
see no harm in the adulteration of this natural food, and so

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 31

the bill could not be passed. The dairy business did not
receive the attention it ought to. No one paid any atten-
tion to it. Butas long as the buyer gave within one-half
cent as much for “skims” as for full-cream cheese, they
would be made.

Joun Cottetr: Thought the whole thing could be
remedied. It wasa lack of consumption. Not an over-
production. People eannot get what they want, so will have
‘none. If all could be branded, both skims and full-cream,
a change would soon be felt.

Cot. Witcox: Wanted to know if the branding sys-
tem had ever been tried. And with what result. Said the
man who made a good plow, a good mower or a good
machine of any kind, was not slow to put his name upon it.
Why not on cheese as well. It seems to him the only
remedy. Every manufacturer of any article for domestic
use will not fail to brand his goods. And, not only this,
but will have his private trade mark, which in many in-
stances is of great value.

CoLtett said if this could be done, Elgin would sup-
port as large a butter and cheese house as any city in the
United States. Could keep twelve salesmen constantly
employed.

SEWARD: Thought selling on commission should be
discouraged.

CotteTt: Dealers did not understand it. They, as a
tule, were not judges of dairy goods. They often do not
know what they buy or sell.

32 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

W. W. BincHam thought dairymen had missed it by
trying to make money at the sacrifice of reputation. The
factory plan leads to this. All want to make as much
‘money as possible. The dividend plan is wrong. It is
quantity they are all striving for, and not quality. The
more the factoryman makes the more money he gets.
Times are hard; ¢s they improve, prices will also improve.

~Witcox: All wasinalump. Individuality was en-
tirely swallowed up. No person who makes a good article
should be ashamed to brand it. He bought his butter from
_a private dairy. Could not afford to buy creamery butter.

S. N. Wricut: Thought the whole matter rested

-with the dairymen themselves. They should demand full-
cream cheese, and compel factorymen to make them.

‘Dairymen should not take a gallon of milk to a factory where
skimmed cheese is made. And all should be sold on the
board of trade.

Dr. TEFFT: Said there wasa demand for skim cheese
and it would be made. sa

| B. Cox: Had one month’s milk made into full-cream
cheese.. Received 4 cents per gallon for his milk, while he
was receiving 4.65 for skims and butter.

SEWARD thought the factorymen encouraged the mak-
_.ing of all butter and skimmed cheese, as the figures
showed there was the most money in it forthem. The
factoryman made six cents and the dairyman lost fourteen
_cents per 100 lbs., which is all wrong.

CoLLETT said if the watch factory put their goods up-
on the market as watches only, they would never have a

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN S ASSOCIATION. 33

reputation. But they brand their goods “ Elgin Watches,”
which is.a guarantee for their quality. There is honor
among business men as well as others, but many are poor
judges and do not really know what they handle. If all
were branded then the poor judge would know as well as the
good judge, just what he was handling. All other goods
for domestic use never fail to be branded, as to their merits.
Why not cheese as well as soap ?

_ Mr. Barnett, of Sugar Grove, sold all his cheese for
mine cents. Made all full-cream cheese. People came to
the factory to get it. Had no trouble in selling all he
made.

A member: How about your dividends ?

Mr. B: They are not as large as paid by the factories
where skim cheese is made.

A member: That tells the story.

Mr. BARNETT received milk only once per day. Often
it came to the factory sour; but he never failed to make a
good cheese.

This statement was received with some degree of al-
lowance by the dairymen present, who had been taught to
believe that when milk was once sour it was impossible to
manufacture good cheese from it.

J. R. McLean: Said he and other dairymen had de-
voted nineteen years to learn how to care for and handle
milk. He now learned with astonishment that all this time
-had been worse than wasted, for here comes the informa-
tion from Sugar Grove, that sour milk is as good as sweet

34." ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION,

milk for cheese thaking. As to skimmed cheese, he bought
some full-cream, took it home, his family. would not touch
it, but wanted some of that mm/d chéese—which means
skimmed. There is no disputing the fact that it would
often bring more in the market than full-cream. It is ready
to eat aS soon as made; not so with full-cream. The
trouble is, the supply is too great ; it is enormous, amount-
ing to as much as one-half our national debt. Our Cana-
dian neighbors come to Elgin, learn to make skimmed
cheese, go home and make and ship to England $8,000,000
worth, and have hardly begun yet. He here read from the
Utica Herald as to number of cows, exportation etc.

SCOFIELD: Wanted to know the amount of skimmed
cheese, in pounds, equal to the cheese which would satisfy
an Englishman ?

CoLteTt: Thought, although cheap, it was in the
end an expensive food, as it cost so much for medicine to
work it off.

JupcE Witcox: Took exception to some of the
figures read by McLean, from the Utica Herald. They
were preposterous and should never be given to the public.

Dr. TEFFT: Said those figures were made by J. H.
Real, and should be received with great allowance.

On motion topic No. 4 was passed, and

Topic No 5s—Was taken up. ‘“ What per cent. depre-
ciation is there in keeping up a dairy from all sources?”
This eminently practical question seemed to stagger many
of the dairymen present, as no sensible answer could be
given, only by one who had kept his accounts exactly, and
this is what few dairymen do.

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION 35

S. W. KincsLey: Knew the shrinkage was large, but
just what per cent. he could not say; but at least twenty-
five per cent. Did not keep figures as to the loss or cost.

McLean: Said it was a new topic, no one had thought
of it before but gone ahead regardless of cost or profit. It
should be thoroughly investigated and a definite conclusion
arrived at, as the business is a constant drain on both mind
and body.

SCOFIELD thought they were not talking to the ques-
tion—to count capital, interest, etc. We had all better give
up our farms; we were making nothing.

S. W. KINGSLEY, in speaking to this question, said the
-cost of keeping up a dairy was large. Thought that 25 per
cent. was not too large. He also digressed, and gave the
following as a sure remedy for milk fever in cows: “ One
pound of common chalk pulverized and mixed with vinegar
sufficient to swallow easily.”

C. C. Buett hoped the main question would not be
dropped. Wasa new beginner in the business. Had not
yet made much improvement; had not even built a good
barn. Was farming to make money. Kept 40 cows; had
100 head altogether. Stabled all his stock; had four barns
or sheds, did not cost $100 each; they were so warm that
no frost came inside; would have to renew them once in
fifteen years. Could do his work cheaper than the man
who had big barns. Could bring his feed tothe barn. Ex-
pensive buildings were not essential to profitable dairying.

Henry SHERMAN: How are your sheds made?

36 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION,

BuELL:: They are studded with 2x4’s, boarded on
both: sides. and filled with tan-bark. Straw roof filled im
overhead with straw.. This. will make as comfortable a
stable for cows as though it cost $3,000—it is the true plan.

McLean: Was glad to learn how Buell made his
sheds, and that some one as well as himself did not run to
big barns. .To arrive at an exact figure of depreciation one
must inventory each year. i

JupceE Witcox: Was aware that farmers were not in
the habit of keeping close accounts. .Had given it much
thought, and had commenced a system which he believed
would give a correct result as to the actual depreciation of
the dairy. Would like to hear from the dairymen who had
kept such an account. Must take a correct inventory to
ascertain how one stands. Wear and tear of tools and ma-
chinery must all be included. The farm should have the
proper charge for all taken from or put upon it. One large
item of expense was generally overlooked; it was by con-
tracting to deliver to a factory a specified amount each
month. This often necessitated buying cows at large fig-
ures. Hoped to be able next year to give exact figures.

After some further discussion it was voted to appoint
a committee of three to carefully investigate and report, at
the next annual meeting, what, in their opinion, was the true
answer to this question.

THE CHAIR appointed JupcE Witcox, C. C. BuELL
and W. Wi1nc as such committee.

S. N. WriGHT wanted to know the value of heifers
with calves by their sides, as compared with old cows.

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S. ASSOCIATION. 37
Mr. Lambert (Canada): What breed ?

FE. H. Sewarp: _ Grade Durhams come in at from
eighteen to twenty months old. |

‘ Mr. McRicuarps hete gave all present an invitation
to attend the next annual meeting of the Kishwaukee
Farmers’ Club, to be held at Marengo, Jan. 26, 1879.

On motion, adjourned to meet at 1:30 p. m.

WEDNESDAY, 1:30 P. M.

After the convention assembled the secretary an-
“nounced that he had received several important communi-
cations, from various persons appointed to take part in this
meeting. On motion it was voted to dispense with the
_reading, but that they be printed in the proceedings.

: Topic No. 6 was called for, but the parties assigned to
open this discussion were absent.

Topic No. 7—“ At present prices, does the dairyman,

_whose milk is manufactured into butter or cheese, or both,

ata factory as now generally managed in this state, receive

-what he ought for his milk? If not, why? And what is
the remedy ?”’ !

This being one of the most important questions for
the dairymen to consider, all present listened with great
interest to JUDGE Witcox, who spoke to this question as
. follows. He said:

38 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

The points I desire to make in the discussion of this question
will be more readily comprehended by first describing, summarily,
the factories in general in the northern part of this state, and their
proprietorship and management generally.

There are within a circle having Elgin for its center and a radius
of fifty miles, probably between sixty and seventy cheese and butter
factories. Many of these are inexpensive structures, erected hur-
riedly without proper regard to their adaptation—either in their
surroundings or internal arrangements—to the business. Two men,
as partners, are proprietors of seven of these sixty or seventy facto-
ries. Two men are severally the proprietors of three each. Four
men or firms, are severally the proprietors of two each. Of the re-
mainder no person or firm operates more than one, so far as I have
been able to ascertain.

The seven factories of which the two gentlemen are the pro-
prietors are in their location distant from each other—the distance
between the two farthest from each other being at least fifty miles.
Only one of these gentlemen possesses practical knowledge of butter
or cheese making. It is impossible for him to receive the milk, make
the butter and cheese, or even to superintend the work in each of
these factories. Employes of the firm are necessarily intrusted with
the business. He can visit each factory once a week or so and give
the employes general directions. The factories of each of the two
men who severally operate three factories each are also distant
from each other, and though each of these gentlemen is skilled in
the business, still the work of receiving the milk and making the
butter and cheese is mainly intrusted to their employes.

Of the other factories, I believe it may be affirmed that most of
them are under the proprietorship of men engaged in other business,
and who are not skilled in the manufacture of butter and cheese, or
if skilled, do not make or personally superintend the making of the
butter and cheese. The factories generally neither internaliy nor
externally present an attractive appearance, and the employes are
far from being models in neatness of attire or person. Patrons of
each factory, in numbers from ten to forty, carry their milk in eight-
gallon cans to the factory every morning (except in some cases Sun-
day morning); an employe of the proprietor receives it, weighs (or,
when the account is kept in gallons, determines the quantity) and
enters the amount in a book. The inspection of the milk, if any

ILLINOIS STATE DA{RYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 39

occurs, is superficial. The milk is conducted from the funnel through
a pipe into a reservoir. An employe puts the cans, one after another,
into a box or vat (of a capacity of thirty to forty gallons) containing
_ hot water, scrubs them some with a brush, then holds them over a
pipe and lets into them for a moment a jet of steam. This is the
cleaning the cans receive. This water generally serves to wash forty
to one hundred or more cans.

The milk being taken in, the employes proceed with the work
of making from it butter or cheese, or both, as the proprietor of the
factory (whose only interest in the milk, is the fixed sum of money
which he charges for making, fitting for market and marketing, the
butter and cheese produced therefrom) shall direct.

In from ten to fifty days thereafter the proprietor puts the pro-
duct in the market—sells it on the board of trade at Elgin, or sends
it to a commission house in some city to be sold, as his own conveni-
ence or interest dictates. Generally, upon the expiration of two
months he announces to his patrons a dividend—and, without any
explanatory statement, he simply gives each a check fora sum of
money.

The prices agreed to be charged for making, boxing and market-
ing the cheese vary some—ranging generally from two to two and
one-half cents per pound, and for butter generally it is five cents per
pound. The proprietor of the factory keeps the accounts and figures
the dividends. The patrons seldom keep an accurate account of the
milk delivered. They do not know the aggregate quantity of milk
delivered to the factory each month; neither do they know the
aggregate amount of butter or cheese or both made, nor to whom or
when or for what price the proprietor of the factory sold the pro-
ducts.

Concerning all of these important matters the dairyman is gen-
erally not only ignorant, but is unable easily to ascertain the facts.
It is difficult for him to obtain the data by which he could determine
whether the products were in quality or quantity sufficient, the price
obtained the market value, and the amount retained only the charges
agreed upon.

The proprietor’s interest is promoted by obtaining all the milk
for his factory which, with his facilities, he is able to handle ; hence,

40 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

in the absence of any guarantee of quantity or quality of the pro-
ducts, it is unreasonable to suppose that either he or his employe
would contend seriously with any patron about the purity of the
milk. No inspection of the premises of patrons is made nor is there
any examination into their manner of keeping, feeding and watering
their cows, milking their cows, straining and cooling their milk, and
caring for their cans.

The naked statement of the management generally of the facto-
ries is of itself evidence that the quantity of butter and cheese made
was not as large, and the quality not as good,and the price obtained
not so high, as might be; and hence, even at the low prices prevail-
ing last summer and fall, the dairymen did not receive what they
ought for their milk.

Experience teaches that when the management of a business is
confided to hired help success is seldom attained, and the business of
manufacturing butter or cheese from milk is no exception to this
rule. Itis bad enough to intrust one’s business to his own hired
help, but to intrust it to the hired help of another—as dairymen do
—is.still more disastrous. To this management of factories generally
there are some notable exceptions. These exceptions are generally
where all the operations in a factory occur under the eyeand helping
hand of a skilled proprietor, who appreciates the importance of neat-
ness, care and econemy, and of producing excellent commodities—
and who therefore endeavors to prevent impure milk being received
and to manufacture only first-class goods--and to have all the work
done prudently and cleanly.

The dividends reported furnish further evidence that dairymen
did not receive what they ought for their milk. The following isa
statement of the lowest and highest dividends as reported from a
large number of factories, to-wit :

ee es FOR 100 POUNDS. |EQUIVALENT IN GALLONS. DIFFERENCE.
LOWEST. | HIGHEST.| LOWEST. HIGHEST. | 100 LBS. | GALLON,
Minty eis desescteccsessess 43 cts 60 cts 3.87 cts 5.4 cts. 17 cts. 1.53 cts.
Hue eee ewes ap, So) 0 Delete) We ASGU aD tg 18 ‘< 1.62 **
Lliyieseesnesesemanossere se pi Ge Sik 68 <§ es 34) C0
ji y 45 66 ° GG 8 ce 4 6c 7 6 3 3

WWVSGUIS ies Gacdostbosecaes 50 72 4.5 6.48 22 1.95
September........... 7p oe g2 ‘ Ons 89 8.28 << 1g ‘< Layaunee
Octobenteres sre Bane Ioo ‘* 7.47 “6 9 ee ny OL Thee

In this calulation I suppose a gallon of milk to weigh 9 Ibs.,
which is probably about 4 oz. above the average. Assuming that a
patron had fifty cows, yielding per cow per day one and four-fifths

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 41

gallons of milk, the following calculation would exhibit the difference
in his monthly receipts, upon the supposition that he received the
lowest instead of highest dividend:

FOR MONTH OF GALLONS MADE.|LOSS PER GALLON.| DIFFERENCE OR LOSS.
ADITEIS AS Banal Gat ae iens Gea ae ae 2,790 I.53 cents. $ 42.67
NGHNNS cbs naan Aas Gao as CoH naa 2,700 1.62 43-7
BEMIS Meat sean sctet seven sons. es) s+sloee-04 2,790 632i ine 17.57
AUIS ES cee secstee loves cabasseacees 2,790 1.98 ‘< 55.24
EPECMIDEN lace usraseececcessreesies ae 2,700 Tet ins 46.17
WGtoben ee seetscsss Ve ccacess eouseaese 2.790 EOLeh A as 42.07
—-— $248.06

The total difference in the receipts—that is, loss—for the six
months would be $248.06, a heavy item surely to the dairyman.

I desire to call attention particularly to the report of dividends
for August, as it seems very instructive. It isas follows:

Gould & Kilbourne, WDinndeeransscc senses 65c|| North Aurora Factory...........--scecssescssees 60€
Algonquin...........0, 65 || John Anderson, Lodi.................2..0+ 50 6-10

re oy Home Switzer, St. Charles. Be valle wanes vebaruvanee nest OS|
sf ee Wayne M’ Adams, MM SONG UIT se ceeesseoseeeecesereers 65-70

James Carlisle, South Bie eke Spring Eee eae RE AR I
Wm. H. Hintze, Ric elanid icc esesGeseseeses Barrevallesescssses s+

Newman & Thompson, Springbrook ...... Gx Clarkis ate een iedeuece Se

Dunc. Johnson, three factories........++- 60-62 || Oatman, Dundee

ME OONY Cree ee sss esleac esl eclseedesessetecees 57 || H. A. Bogardus, Batavia...............02..+-.60

Boice, four factories ............ccsee0 ceseseeees 60 || Kibling, west of Batavia.............--csecseres 60

Hawthorne Bros..............sscsecsesceeeoens EQ—GOnl || Otcem lia MOKsuccsnasesetcnccostesessserccesesesees 60

Mr. Hathaway, Hampshire..............0+.+- ASS Ih ver LOD) Altwaaeveye,, | GEMEN 215, Gadcadunoossosunenceocss 60

PTA BY UM COI Ms. Ss icave lea edescecngeteosisasiacicooes Os PNlontsomeny a asecsceeneoncccecensccssey ieeescei: 60

1D), 15 WNAcrore ee bh ote ae Ree 7o || Mr. Holloway, Kaneville .................0000+ 50

North Factory nogoobosdpadchasdoagesee sosEeU SaGHUdeS OUP AD Tavyll| Cate eteanpaeetsecitesretastssi-sassiciaecas 50

“COV ASHER: IEG Gs ana ae ES By ||] JPENANEROND, Sooo acnoagcenanconsdaccncoanseusencoqacesooond 50

It will be observed that factories under the sume proprietorship
paid unequal dividends—the largest inequality amounting to 7 cents
per 100 pounds, that is. 63-100 cents per gallon. Why was this?

Is it unreasonable to suppose that it was because those factories
paying the highest dividends received more of the attention of the
skilled proprietor than the others? The Home and Wayne factories
are nearest to the proprietors’ residence.

I think it can safely be affirmed on the one hand, that the fac-
tories exhibiting the best results did not make any more or better
butter and cheese than could be made from the milk supplied to
them, nor obtain any higher than the market price for the goods.
And on the other hand, that the factories (which are the most
numerous) showing the poorer results, did not get out of the milk all
of the good butter and cheese which could’ be made. The logical
conclusion is, that there was bad management or there would not
have existed so much difference in results. I am led to believe, from
the best data accessible to me, that fully two-thirds of the milk de-

42 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

livered to factories in this state during the months of May, June, July
and August, did not bring to the dairymen, on an average, over
four cents per gallon. Dairymen must do better than that or quit the
business, if they wish to avoid bankruptcy, for milk cannot, without
loss, be produced at that price.

Prices, I am aware, were low for good cheese last summer—but
were they so depressed as to account for such low dividends? A
gallon of pure milk is sufficient, under the most favorable circum-
stances (and dairymen should carry on, or cause to be carried on, the
business under the most favorable circumstances), to make a pound of
first-rate, full-milk (or cream, as it is called) cheese. Such cheese
could have been sold on the board of trade, during the months of
June, July, August and September, at an average of at least eight
cents per pound, as I am advised by a gentleman thoroughly con-
versant with the transactions on the board of trade. The charge for
making, boxing and marketing cheese say was 23 cents per pound ;
deduct this from 8 cents (the market price) and there is 5} cents left
—that is 54 cents per gallon for the dairyman for his milk, for the
months of May, June, July and August. This is 13 cents per gallon
more than was received for probably two-thirds of the milk furnished
the factories during those months. Dairymen need not be told that
a difference of 13 cents per gallon is an important matter to them.
A pound of good butter can generally be made from 23 gallons of
pure milk. I am advised that during said months such butter, on the
average, could have been sold on the board of trade for 23 cents.
Deduct from this 5 cents for making and marketing, and there re-
mains 18 cents; that is 18 cents for 23 gallons, which is 7{ cents per
gallon. These calculations, based upon correct data as I think, dem-
onstrate that even at the low prices of last summer dairymen did not
realize what they ought for their milk. A just estimate of the loss
sustained by them would astonish even the most thoughtful dairy-
man. Now why this loss?

It may be difficult, if not impossible, to assign the true reasons
for it. The main reasons are probably as follows:

1. The milk was defective.

2. The handling and manufacturing it was uneconomical and
wasteful.

3. The products were deficient in quantity.

4, The products were deficient in quality.

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 43

5. The facilities for caring for and storing the products were
insufficient, and hence sales were compulsory and disadvantageous.

6. The prices charged for manufacturing the products were too
high.

7. Sending the products to commission houses to be sold, was
damaging. |

8. Middlemen—to whose fingers some of the proceeds, in pass-
ing, always adhere—were to numerous.

I shall not dilate upon these several reasons separately. The
brief sketch given of the way and by whom the work at the factories
was done will convince dairymen of the soundness of most of these
reasons. As to the quantity of the products, in the absence of accu-
rate statistics which might and I think ought to be furnished by the
proprietors of factories, no definite knowledge is attainable. Itisa
matter of grave importance to the dairyman whether 9 or 13 pounds
of milk were at tke factory used to make a pound of cheese, and
whether 223 or 32 pounds of milk were consumed to make a pound
of butter.

My experience, observation and conversation with proprietors
of factories leads me to believe that on an average not less than 13
pounds of milk were consumed to make a pound of cheese, and 30
pounds to make a pound of butter. The waste in this particular
alone has been large.

In quality the products—particularly cheese—have been notori-
ously inferior. Skim cheese has been the make generally. This
cheese is made from milk divested of the cream, or most of it. To
this short-sighted and pernicious practice of making skim cheese I
attribute in a large degree the depression in the dairy business.
Skim cheese is unfit for human food. It was well calculated to de-
ceive—and has deceived the public; it looked fair and found sales at
a price far in advance of its value. Proprietors of factories, commis-
sion men, dealers and dairymen made present money unjustly out of —
it—the latter the least, however. Consumption of this cheese de-
creased with the increase of knowledge of its demerits, and now it
can scarcely be sold except in a market where it is supposed to be
good cheese. The damaging financial results do not affect wholly, as
it ought, those only who are engaged in manufacturing and selling it ;
it extends much further, and in its downfall it drags not only good
cheese but the whole dairy interest. Unfortunately, like all wide-

44 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

spread calamities, the innocent with the guilty suffer. It will require
years of faithful well doing in the manufacture of superior cheese to
restore the valuable fame which this vicinity enjoyed in the produc-
tion of cheese,a few years ago, and the prosperity then existing
among dairymen. r

As to the prices charged, they are the same generally as charged
eight or nine years ago. By combination and shrewdness the pro-
prietors of factories have managed to maintain their prices in the
face and notwithstanding the heavy decline in the price of butter and
cheese, in labor, and in property generally and in the profits of busi-
ness generally. The proprietor—with less capital employed than any
one of his patrons owning his farm and dairy, say 160 acres and 40
cows—probably made more money the past summer and fall than all
his patrons out of their dairy business. The prices charged are prob-
ably nearly double the fair value of the services rendered.

It is superfluous to adduce any facts or reasons to convince
dairymen of this vicinity, particularly those who were engaged in
the business previous to the establishment of the board of trade,
that it is, as a general rule, unwise to send butter or cheese to com-
mission men to be sold on commission, Experience admonishes all
that loss is almost certain to ensue when butter or cheese is sent off
to be sold on commission. The goods should be retained in the fac-
tory until they are sold. This is one reason why they should be
manufactured so they can be kept without injury, and proper storage
provided at the factory.

The less middlemen to be paid in the prosecution of any busi-
ness the better. Dairymen seem to have overlooked this fact.
Probably in no other business can so many middlemen be found as
in the dairy business. When the butter and cheese of the dairyman
are not made separately by himself, but with others at a factory, what
is wanted is help—laborers, butter and cheese makers—and not men
merely to do the figuring, selling, and receiving the lion’s share of
the profits. Dairymen are capable of carrying on their own business
—transacting all of it, and the sooner they unload all middlemen the
easier and faster wil. be thei: progress tc prosperity.

Now, what is the remedy for the financial infelicity of the
dairymen?

For some of the untuwatu circuiistauces encompassing them it
is likely remedies may be found in the suggestions already made.

FLLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION AS

The dairy has become an industry of vast magnitude, and it is
of the first importance to success, in the present depressed state of
business, that the product of the dairy should be as excellent in qual-
ity and large in quantity as reasonably practicable, and that these
results should be reached as cheaply as practicable.

The first essential thing to thisend is pure milk. By this I
mean milk that is clean, sweet, drawn from a healthy cow and un-
adulterated, either by addition (as by adding water to it or other
foreign substance) or substraction (as by taking cream off of it or the
strippings of the cow). Without such milk it is impossible to make
first-rate butter and cheese—such as will command always a sale at
the highest. market price, and generally a remunerative price. The
production of pure milk is wholly within the control of the dairy-
man, and if impure milk is taken to a factory or made into butter or
cheese, the fault is with him and he should bear the censure.

If all dairymen were careful and honest, only such milk would
be delivered at a factory. But unfortunately this is not the case.
Owing to carelessness or dishonesty, among the ten to forty patrons

-of every factory some milk that is not pure will be brought; ance,
under the present system—if system it can be called, it wil) generally
be received and used; and in consequence of its use the whole of the
pure milk with which it is mixed is more or less polluted and the pro-
duct is injured. Such milk should always be rejected. If the

- proprietor of the factory bought the milk or was responsible, to the
extent of their market value, for a reasonable quantity and quality of
butter and cheese from it, unquestionably it generally would be re-

jected. The element of self-interest in such case would be present and
incite to close inspection and prompt rejection of impure milk. It
would also incite to more care, activity, and economy in every par-
ticular, lessen waste and expense, and insure a larger quantity and
better quality of products and more remunerative and steadier prices.

If the milk shall hereafter be made up by proprietors of facto-
ries—other than the dairymen themselves--dairymen might insist
upon its being bought by the proprietors.

If this cannot be accomplished, the plan prevailing to some
extent in New York might be adopted. That plan is as follows: Let
it be ugreed that a pound of first-rate cheese be made for every 9 or
10 pounds of pure milk delivered, and a pound of first-rate butter for
every 225 or 24 pounds of milk delivered. And let the factoryman

46 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION,

agree to account to the dairyman for the value (on a particular day of
each month or the average of the month) of a pound of such cheese
for every 9 or 10 pounds (as agreed) of milk received (less the charge
of making, etc.,) or if butter is made, to account for the value (deter-
mined in same way as cheese) of a pound of butter for every 224 or
24 pounds (as may be agreed) of milk received (less the charge of
making, etc.) Prohibit the making of skim cheese entirely. It is
highly probable that some such arrangement—which would be per-
fectly fair and just—would achieve beneficient results to dairymen
and reward reasonably the proprietors of factories. As the business
is managed now, the proprietors assume no responsibility scarcely.
If their hired men make a mistake—add too much or too little ren-
net, heat to too high or low a degree, or otherwise injure a vat of —
milk, by which loss ensues—neither the proprietors nor the em-
ployes sustain, as they ought, the loss. The dairymen usually sustain
all the losses, whether from mismanagement, negligence or wilful-
ness. It is said that every factory has its graveyard, and if these
graveyards could talk, a tale would be told disagreeably interesting
and instructive to dairymen.

I must not be understood as casting any censure upon, or find-
ing any fault with the proprietors of factories. Business is open to
all, and if they have simply availed themselves of opportunlties to
make money—without risk or much capital—furnished them by the
dairymen, they are entiled to commendation for their penetration
and enterprise.

Milk perishes quickly, and to become merchantable, generally,
must be converted at once into articles of food less perishable, and
this work of converting their milk into saleable commodities is there-
fore properly the business of the dairymen. It is to their interest
that this work shall be done economically, cheaply and excellently,
and not until they do it themselves, or see that it is done, need they
expect the highest remunerative results. If they are so unwise as to
furnish the opportunity, they ought not to complain if clear-headed
and energetic merchants step outside of their vocation and engage in
the—to them—thriving business of manufacturing butter and cheese
out of the milk furnished by the dairymen, at a high, fixed price
and of the kind and quality suitable to their interests. Shrewd men
not only have the right, but always will, when permitted, seize upon
a chance offered to make money, and I admire the proprietors of
factories for the genius displayed in their government of dairymen.

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION 47

Like rulers generally, they have managed to draw good pay, while
their subjects (the dairymen) have been gradually approaching im-
poverishment.

It should not escape the attention of dairymen that the ten-
dency of business, as to sales of butter and cheese, under the guid-
ance of leading men among the enterprising proprietors of factories
has been for the last year and a half, to sell on commission, instead
of on the board of trade, as formerly. The board of trade was es-
tablished by dairymen to prevent that sacrifice of their products re-
sulting from sending them away to commission men to sell.

- Commission men in vain assayed to thwart,on the start, the suc-
cess of the board of trade. After it became a success, and they could
only get the dairy products by purchasing them on the board, they
came and bought them and paid good prices, and the dairymen re-
ceived their reasonable reward. The commission men, shrewd gen-
tlemen, became members, gradually they obtained control, and, asa
result, to-day comparitively few sales are effected upon the board of
trade, and thereby loss of their proper profits ensues to the dairy-
“men. Several of the leading proprietors of factories (men who have
the selling of immense amounts of butter and cheese belonging to
dairymen) are to-day carrying on commission business in Chicago.
Unless dairymen lift their voice against it, determinedly, the ex-
tinguishment of the board of trade—to them and them only, a most
valuable institution—will soon take place. The agencies of dissolu-
tion are insidiously at work, and dairymen only are interested in
staying them. And, unless they make their power felt to this end,
the destruction of the board of trade will be accomplished.

The remedy is for dairymen to insist upon their products being
sold on the board of trade, and watch closely all proprietors of facto-
ries who are also carrying on a commission business. Dairymen have
the power and the right, and it is, it seems to me, of the utmost im-
portance to them to prevent the ruin of the board of trade, and this
can only be done by demanding that their products shall be sold
thereon, and that they shall not be sent off to be sold on commission.
Another fact dairymen should note, and that is, that the Nerth-
western Dairymen’s Association has passed substantially from the
control of dairymen and is now in the hands of commission men,
proprietors of factories, editors of papers, manufacturers of cheese-
boxes, vendors of patent inventions, salt, annatto etc., and merchants

48 ILLINOIS SFATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

engaged in supplying factory fixtures and implements. This fact
should be borne in mind by dairymen when reading the suggestions
and advice to them found in the annual published proceedings of
that association.

Dairymen can hardly escape bankruptcy if they continue in
the course they pursued the past season, and are now pursuing. The
present system, if the wasteful, expensive and unprofitable manner
jn which their milk is converted into saleable commodities can be
called a system, must be so changed as to produce more remunera-
tive results to the dairymen or else abandoned. It is favorable to
the proprietors of factories, who are in the main middlemen, and
unfavorable to the dairymen.

The dairymen can, and if changed at all, must change it. If
more and better butter and cheese, and for less mouey, cannot be
made from their milk (of course I mean pure milk) by the proprie-
tors of factories, than in the past season, then dairymen will be forced
to make up their milk at their several homes, or associate together
in proper and convenient numbers and erect factories, employ practi-
cal cheese and butter makers and under their own supervision man-
facture and sell their own commodities or abandon the business.

It is indispensable to the success of the dairy business now,
that only first-class butter and cheese shall be made. Such goods
can always be sold at home, they are ever in demand and sought
after, purchasers will hunt for them and come for them and pay a
reasonable price for them. Such goods, too, can be kept and hence
facilities for keeping them, when necessary, should be provided. To
make such goods, only pure milk can be used; hence a system of in-
spection of premises, stabies, cows, water used, dairy utensils used
and management of thedairy, generally, and the milk itself, must be
adopted and enforced where the milk is manufactured at factories or
upon any associated plan. Then there must be less waste and ex-
pense in manufacturing and better methods of selling. If the pro-
prietors of factories would purchase the milk or manufacture it upon
the plan of responsibility, before stated, or upon any other plan
which will compel them to assume that degree of responsibility
which is necessary to insure the best results and is fair and just,
then dairymen might hope for reasonable success without making
up their milk themselves, either associated with each other or indi-
vidually. If, however, no such arrangement can be effected with

ILLINOIS STATE DALRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 49

proprietors of factories now-existing, then what shall the dairyman
do? To go on as heretofore is certain loss. Shall he quit the busi-
ness? That he cannot do at once without sacrifice of property. Shall
he make his milk into butter and cheese at his own home? or shall
he associate with certain of his neighbors and they make up for
themselves? The question whether a dairyman shall himself man-
nfacture his own milk into butter and cheese, will of course de-
pend on circumstances. Where he is capable, favorably situated
and able to supply himself with proper facilities and willing to give
careful personal attention to the business, undoubtedly he can make
more money, all things considered, by manufacturing his own milk.
The time and labor devoted te the work would not exceed much if
any the time, labor and expense of carrying the milk to the factory
and the sour milk, butter-milk and whey retained would be valuable
to raise calves and pork. But where not thus situated, probably it
would be more profitable for the dairyman to associate with others
and haye it made up at a factory of their own.

! Mr. Lampert (Canada) inquired as to the amount of
milk required at different times of the season to produce a
pound of butter or cheese.

Witcox: Thought 22% pounds sufficient to produce
a pound of butter. His plan was to use the old style
shallow pan; did not like deep setting ; did not believe as
now worked that we received all there was in the milk.

Mr. Bores used 23 pounds of milk for pound of
butter.

Dr. WoopworTH used less than 22.

Hon. Wm. PATTEN said there was a great difference in

the yield—it was all the way from 20 to 40 pounds; the
season, and the feed used, had much to do with it.

50 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

C. C. Burtt: Did not know whether Judge Wilcox
was a Granger or not; would make a good one at all
events. Did not think all his statements would “hold
water.” Did not believe any factory could give a certain
number of pounds of products for a specified amount of
milk. It is all mixed—no two alike; each thinks his plan
the best, and the only. The largest yield he knew of was
one pound of butter from twenty pounds of milk. He
knew of factories only paying fifty cents per 100 pounds for
milk; this is too low; farmers could not live at it.

Witcox: Advocated no definite plan of setting. And
in reference to capital going into the business, he knew of
no capitalist going into it; they were mostly irresponsible
men, of no bottom whatever, which the dairymen of this
vicinity had found out to their sorrow of late.

E. H. Sewarp: Thought Wilcox made a good point
when he described the loose manner in which the factories
arenowrun. Itisa fact, the dairyman knows nothing about
what is being done with his milk. It pays the factoryman
better to make both butter and cheese, and so he makes it.
The factoryman is independent ;.he has your milk and your
money. He pays himself first and you last. You stand
all the bad debts, shrinkage of weights, bad cheese, and all
the other bad things of the business. The dairyman should
have something to say, as to how the milk shall be worked
up, how and when sold, and to whom sold. This can all
be remedied if farmers will all unite.

C. H. Larkin said the whole plan needed moral sup-
port, before any radical change could be effected. In
reference to capital invested, he said, in 1875 the Conden-
sing Co., of Elgin, made the following figures with reference

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 5!

to the patrons delivering milk at their factory: Putting
land at $55 per acre, cows at $50, and horses at $100 each,
there was invested $553,293. The value of milk produced
by these patrons was $61,812. Lands have not essentially
changed, cows have. Had no direct interest in any cheese
factory. Most certainly dairymen had a right and ought to
know just what is being done with their milk. Had often
kept his milk at home. Thought that 20 4-7 pounds of
milk was enough to produce a pound of butter; he had
also used 28 4-5 pounds for a pound of butter. He feeds
high ; believed it the best plan.

Hon. Wm. Patten: Had been a patron of a factory
for five years ; it did not pay; must try some other plan.
Had known cheese sent to Chicago and sold for 2% cents.
After paying for selling, how much was left? Was now
working up his milk at home, and found it the true and
best-paying plan.

W. W. Bincuam gave interesting figures as to his dairy.
Sold his butter in Chicago.

G. P. Lorn said the plan, or habit, of skimming milk
was a fraud, and should be stopped ; if every patron should
skim his milk it would bankrupt any factory.

Wm. LamsBert: Told his experience with watered and
skimmed milk. He brought suit against one patron from
whose milk he had taken twenty-five per cent. of water,
because he did not see him put it in. We needed better
laws to prevent the adulteration of milk. |

On motion, the chair appointed R. P. McGtincy, C. C.
Bue and E. H. S—Ewarp acommittee to nominate officers
for the ensuing year.

52 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

The secretary read the following report as the eastitel:
of his office for the past year: |

SECRETARY’S REPORT.

Cash on hand atilastineport:.isclcccusdes ss oscdcencccuscnlescevecoce scene at eee eet ee $ 1.04

*) Cash received Hfoxmmembers hip) arcs.) ernccseehessssecsteseccsteceseetcesccesecrer ene seee eeeaee 4.00
Cashireceivedstor reports Soldiac.cs.sssceeececescereceeeeee eaecedsereceeeee se ee et eee anaes 75
Cashy received fomadVextising ii. c sss aelistessonsncccndin- aces scccmences see eeeee eee 32.00
Cash received from H, W. Mead, Treasurer.............cc.sccoessscesceceecseesesconsse 79.00
By cash paid for printing reports .............ssceeseesesresceceescanccecesersaceceneescencense $111.00
By cash paid for postage, stationery, CtC.......ssccscoece sence ccsccscscascsenccncsececsenes 2.75
‘Lo:cash, onhand ‘to balances. v..-<tcecscessces-coheccicosacecestanencecsses oe see ee eee 3-04

$116.79 $116.79

Which report was accepted and placed on file.

Wo. Burton said—in reference to skimming—it was a
bad practice. If you take a little for coffee) andieheuga
little for strawberries, and then a little for butter, you
would soon take it all. The dividends are small as it is; if
this practice is pursued they will be still smaller. The man-
ufacturers test the milk, and should receive none but good.
The dairymen themselves were to blame. We could really
tell but little about the dividends we see published; they
are often paid larger than they really are, so as to draw
patrons from other factories which pay less. A good deal
of jockeying is done.

Witcox: Was glad to hear Mr. Burton’s remarks,
but was sorry to know such facts existed; it was impossi-
ble to get good dividends where such practices were indulged
in; he was astonished to know the practice existed to such.
an extent. The making of butter and cheese from the same
milk was a new thing. It took time to perfect the business

so as to make it profitable.

G. P. Lorp said if permission to skim was given, he
could get rich out of water.

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 53

Mc RicHAarps: Thought if all patrons of a factory -
took the same ratio of cream from their milk, no moral
wrong was done. All would furnish alike and all receive
alike. |

Witcox: Thought the best plan for each dairyman
was to take out just what he wished for family use, when it
was milked, but never skim.

Mc RicHarps objected to the general tone of the dis-
cussion. He did not believe the dairymen of Illinois were
all dishonest or foolish. He did not believe the practice of
skimming was near as great as represented, at least in Mc-
iMenmmy county; but yet, if any is’) done, it ought to be
stopped. !

C. C. BuELt said the question was being treated in a
“milk and water” way. He thought they were making a
“mountain out of a mole hill.”

D. C. ScorieLp added his protest against skimming.
It was all wrong, and the crime was in proportion to the
amount taken. One takes a pint, one a quart, and pretty
soon you have taken all there is worth taking.

L. BARTLETT: Said there was a great difference even
in good milk. Some is worth two cents per gallon more
other. He could not believe this practice existed to any
alarming extent. He had a better opinion of dairymen.

G. P. Lorn said the best plan was for each dairyman
to keep a cow for family use.

A member said the evils extended to the factories,
where each employe took all the cream he wished for family
use—or even more.

54 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

After some further discussion of this subject, it was
dismissed, all feeling they had been pretty well skimmed.

The committee on nomination of officers for the en-
suing year made the following report, which on motion was
adopted, and the names submitted were declared duly
elected’:

President, Dr. J. Terrr, Elgin.

Secretary, M. H. THompson, Elgin.

Treasurer, R. M. Patrick, Marengo.

Vice-Presidents, Hon. NaTHAn WILLIAMS, Rock Falls ;
Hon. Wo. Patten, Sandwich ; S. W. Kinestey, Barrington;
Dr. J. WoopwortnH, Marengo; J. R. McLean, Elgin; I.
Borges, Davis Junction; L. Bart err, Bartlett Station;
Prof. F. H. Hair, Sugar Grove; I. H. Wanzer, Galesburg ;
Cuas. Boone, Winnebago ; JOHN SMALLWOOD, Freeport.

On motion, the convention adjourned to meet at 7:30
p. m.

[ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 55

EVENING SESSION.

WEDNESDAY, DEc. 11, 1870.

Upon the reassembling of the convention—

Topic No. 8—‘‘Is it profitable to grind feed for the
dairy ? if so, can it be profitably done on the farm ?”

This was considered a very practical question, and one
which was of great interest to all dairymen. Their atten-
tion was more particularly called to it last winter, during
the mud embargo of the roads.

E. H. SEwarp said it was an important question; but
just now, as grain is so cheap, it was a question as to profit,
between grinding and feeding whole. Grinding at home
©osts a) e@reat deal. The iron mills only cut, they do not
grind. If there was some sure, cheap way, it might pay to
grind on the farm, but at the price of grain now it would
scarcely pay. If a few neighbors could unite in one mill—
and that a good one—he thought it might pay. Thought
to steam feed was better and much cheaper and made
better milk. Two bushels of rye would make five after it
was steamed, and would feed 45 cows one day. After
steaming it should be mixed with bran and fed warm. It
took longer to cook corn than rye. One bushel of rye is
equal to three bushels of oats for milk. His plan was an
- upright steamer; water flowed from an elevated tank; the
grain was steamed in a barrel. About one and one-half
hours was consumed in cooking a batch. It was less labor
than grinding, and cheaper, for the fuel was no object as a
few cobs did the business. Stock prefer steamed to ground

56 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

feed. | Cows will shrink when changed from cooked to
ground feed. Had experimented with all varieties of feed ;
believed cooked the best, but must not be fed too ‘hot,

C. C. CuurcH had known cows to become spring poor
on cooked food ; did not think it as good as dry feed.

C. C. Burtt thought grinding the best plan, and
believed it paid. He used a “ Big Giant Mill” and ground
on the farm; could grind fifteen bushels per hour if kept
in order. Commenced to grind as soon as hard enough in
the fall. Used horses or mules as power. It did not pay
to haul over two miles to mill.

Capt. W. H. Stewart thought it paid to grind, and if
it could be ground on the farm all the better.

Dr. Terrt believed in grinding, but wanted his ground
very fine—it was the only way to get good results.

Wma. PatTen had used an iron mill, with good results.
Now chopped his feed fine, which also gave good results.

Mr. LAMBERT inquired as to the value of the cob
ground ; the opinion being that there was no value in the
cob.

Wm. Patten, thought the profit of grinding depended
a great deal upon the amount of labor required, etc.

C. C. BuELL said he had often changed from ground
feed to stock corn, and found his cows did well.

W. W. BincHam: Believed in grinding. Had used all
kinds of feed—found corti and oats to be the best, all con-
sidered, Often mixed bran.

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION 57

C. C. Buett: Asked as to feeding cows buttermilk,
and how fed.

Mr. LAMBERT said buttermilk was not fit to feed to
cows; if fed to one cow, her milk would spoil a batch of
4,000 pounds; it took five pounds more toa hundred for
butter, when fed.

BuELL thought we must not draw too sudden conclu-
sions; bran if fed alone made poor milk, but if mixed
with other feed it was good; it might be so with buttermilk.

W. W. Brvcuam: Thought sour milk fed to cows
would affect butter.

Mr. LamMBERT wanted to know how we could have our
milk come to the factory in better condition. But no one
seemed to know just how to do it.

Topic No. 9—‘“ Should gross or net figures be given
at conventions ?”’

No one seemed to take interest in this question. The
discussion rambled over the entire dairy: question.

LaMBERT thought that cows when warm should not be
allowed to drink cold water.

Mr. Patren said hot and cold milk should not be
mixed.

Mr. LaMBERT said in Canada all milk wis carried in
large cans, whille small ones were used—each farmer
bringing his own milk. He liked this plan the best.

Dr. TEFFT inquired if any dairymen had experimented
—as keeping green corn.

58 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

Mr. Patren had cut clover green and put in his barn.
Was told it would burn his barn, but it did not. Was good
feed, his cows liked it, and it produced a good flow of milk.
Believed this the correct plan. ?

On motion, the convention now adjourned to 9g a. m.

to-morrow.

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 59

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 12, 9 A. M.

After the convention was called to order, topic No. 2
was again resumed, as the subject of soiling was considered
of great importance to the dairyman.

G. P. Lorn said he had read in the Country Gentleman
how we could cut but 40 tons per acre, of green corn, while
in France it is claimed 120 tons can be raised. Now can
we raise 120 tons peracre? If one person can do it, all
can do it. Under the same circumstances, he believed corn
fodder very valuable feed for milch cows when dry weather
usually begins. In August, he began feeding 40 head one
bushel of cut-corn fodder per day—i. e., run through a
cutting machine. One-third of an acre would make 1,600
messes ; this was cheap feed. To make it pay we must
-keep more stock on the same land; we must make more
than we do now. The French people have a mode peculiar
to themselves. They dig deep trenches in the ground and
bury the green corn, which comes out sweet and good—is
kept in this manner for a long time—when it is freely eaten
by the cattle. Anyone could try it, it costs nothing.

Dr. Terrr thought this an important question, and
should be further discussed. He quoted from a paper read
by ex-Governor Price, of New York, on this subject, show-
ing the plan of burying. Said it wes chopped fine and then
spread in layers in ditches, with layers of straw, and then
covered two feet deep with earth; pains is taken to close
all cracks or openings. When taken out it showed no fer-
mentation, and stock would eat it readily. Could be kept
sweet by this plan for one year. If this is a fact, we can
keep our cows cheaper than we now do. Two acres would
keep a cow for one year.

60 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

Geo. P. Lorn said the French plan was to dig trenches
nine feet wide by four deep; when filled was raised above
the level of the ground. Some have said, to dig these
trenches would cost more than to build all our railroads—
they might be worth more. The country was new yet, and
we have much to learn in the line of agriculture.

Mr. Lorp did not advocate this expensive mode; had
had experience in feeding; in the old way fed corn-stalks
whole, now cut all his stalks. They were then out of the
way—did not trouble in the manure.

Wm. Patren thought the present style of plow had
much to do with the kind of manures used.

W. W. BincHam asked if there was not some other
articles as good as corn for soiling.

Wm. PATTEN wanted to know if we were far enough
advanced to engage in this kind of farming. The more he
put upon his farm the less per cent. he received from it. In
Germany they had no fences. All stock was kept by soil-
ing. As to the number of cattle kept on an acre, he could
now keep double the number formerly kept, or twenty years
ago. Some dairymen had said that one man should be em-
ployed on the farm to every fifteen cows; at present prices
the receipts of the dairy would not pay the help. If one
man could keep 60 cows on 100 acres, another ought to do
the same. And if it can be done, then the most of our
farmers are snstaining a great loss, and are far from a per-
fect style of farming. He began by sowing rye in fall; in
spring sowed oats—four bushels per acre; then drilled corn,
then field corn; also raised beets and turnips and other
roots; also using corn meal. By this plan he could make

{LLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 61

one acre keep one cow. Sowed his rye at different times,
as well as corn, so as to have green feed at all times. He
had come to this meeting on purpose to learn about soiling.
Most men were land poor; they were compelled to. spread
their manure too thin. Used three bushels of seed per
acre for drilled corn.

Geo. P. Lorp: Said clover was used by many. Also
Hungarian was much in favor, as two crops per year could
be raised. He used two bushels of seed per acre for drilled
corn, and when full-grown could see only the first row.

BINGHAM said after cutting his rye he then used the
same land for corn, thus raising two crops per year. Kept
his cows in the stanchions 20 hours out of the 24. By this
Style of farming, the small amount of land used called for
less labor—he used no pasture at all—and the land tilled is
consequently very rich and productive.

Tuos. Bishop: Thought this mode of farming looked
green. How 10 acres could feed 60 cows in summer was a
mystery. He used a large piece to feed 30 cows; did not
believe in this wheel-barrow style of farming. ‘Ten acres
could not keep three cows; it could not be done. He was
one of the doubting Thomases.

BrinGcHAM: Fed meal all the summer. Used orchard

®

grass and red clover.

Dr. Terrt said he noticed that Ben. Butler said we of
the United States were land poor, while in France ten acres
was considered enough, where the whole country only about
equaled) Pexas, France, in 1876, exported $136,720,000 of
butter and cheese, while we only exported $17,789,000 ;
theirs are small farms ours are large ones.

62 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

Wo. Patren thought it would be a long time before
we could reduce our living expenses to a level with Ger-
many or France.

BINGHAM said it was an established fact that small
farms would always yield a greater per cent. than large
ones.

Tuos. BisHop: Could see no difference between large
and small farms. A small one could keep four or five cows,
a pig, a chicken or two, a goose and a turkey or two—how
could these manure it so as to produce such wonderful
crops? It can’t be done; its all nonsense. Small patches
may do for amusement, but when you talk about making
money, you have got to have room to do it.

- Brycuam said on 36 acres he raised corn, cherries and
all kinds of small fruits, as well as eight or ten cows. Made
a good living and more too.

Wo. PATTEN inquired how much he paid for labor.

Mr. BincHam: Do not cal! my own time worth any-
thing, and I do most of the labor.

S. N. WricuT inquired of Bishop how many cows he
kept.

Mr. BisHop said he had 40 cows.

Mr. Wricut: Had considered Mr. B. one of the
best farmers in the county, but was now in doubt, as he
(Wright) had only about one-half as much land as Bishop
and he kept 45 cows and four horses. Came to this meet-
ing to learn about soiling. He felt confident that no one
was aware how much stock could be kept by soiling and
feeding in the barn. Thought one acre sufficient to keep a
cow.

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 63

Mr. BisHop: ‘Knew many men around him who were
trying to carry too much; were always hard up for money.
He kept on his farm 40 head of cattle—and managed to
keep out of debt, and have $1,000 a year more than he
knew what to do with. Kept plenty of pasture; only fed
three acres of fodder corn the whole season, and that was
not fed yet. His expenses were light; he paid but $12 per
month for help.

S N. WricuTt: I paid only $10.
BincHAmM: Ido my own work, which is cheaper still.

Mr. Lorp here stated that it took about 15 minutes to
cut the feed for 40 cows at one feeding.

After some further discussion of this subject, the
matter of adulteration of milk was again taken up—when
Geo. P. Lord offered the following resolutions, which were
seconded by W. W. Bingham, of Marengo:

Wuereas, It has been publicly stated in this convention, that
the practice of skimming milk is quite general with those furnishing
miik to our creameries, and that this habit has obtained mainly
through the misapprehension on the part of dairymen, and whereas
the adulterations of milk by substracting cream prevents manufac-
turers obtaining the best possible results, and reduces the current
price of pure milk, to the injury of all interested in the business, and

WuereEas, In the present depressed state of the market, it is of
importance that the quality of dairy products be greatly improved,
and this improvement can only be achieved by the use of pure and
unadulterated milk, therefore

Resolved, That the abstracting of cream from milk furnished
those who manufacture it and divide the proceeds pro rata among
their patrons, is unjust, in that it unfairly reduces the value of ali the
pure milk furnished such manufacturers and injures the reputation
of the dairy products of the West, and that such practices should be
abandoned at once.

64 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

Resolved, That, in the judgment of this convention, those who
receive and manufacture milk, the proceeds of which are to be dis-
tributed pro rata among their patrons, have accepted a sacred trust—
a trust requiring great vigilance and care—and that they are morally
as responsible for the quality of milk they receive, as they are for the
products of their factories, and that it is as unjust for them to receive
adulterated milk, knowing it to be adulterated, as it is for dairymen
to furnish such milk, for they cannot but know that the adulterated
milk reduces the value of all pure milk they receive, and therefore
works to the injury of their best patrons.

Resolved, That as itis absolutely necessary that the quality of
our dairy products be so improved that they will command a price in
the market that will remunerate the producer for his milk, and as
such improvement in the quality can be obtained only by the use of
pure and unadulterated milk, this convention advise all engaged in
‘the business of manufacturing milk, to adopt at once a thorough daily
inspection of all milk received by them. Such inspection should show
the temperature of the milk when received at the factory, the quality
of the milk as indicated by the lactometer and the quality of cream
in every hundred pounds of milk, and should be recorded in a book
in such form and manner as would enable all their patrons to know
the daily average quality of all milk they receive, and they should
positively refuse to take milk from any and all persons who skim or
abstract any portion of cream from their milk.

Mr. Lorp spoke to these resolutions, strongly depre-
cating the practice of skimming. A farmer might just as.
well take one can of water and one can of milk to the
‘factory, and ask pay for two cans of milk. The practice
was wrong, and should be stopped. How is it with the
individual who accepts the trust to receive this milk ? Does
he know of this skimming? or does he consent toit? If
20 men take to a factory, and five take poor milk, the other
15 would have reason to complain and just cause to protest
and demand that all bring good milk. When cows are
coming in at all times of the year the milk should average
about the same ; of course where grain is fed in abundance
the milk is of a better quality. There is not a set of dairy-

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 65

men of the whole world that feed as high as the Illinois
dairymen. The Eastern dairyman cannot afford to feed, for
his grain is worth more than his milk. There is no reason
why we should not make the best product in the world. -
He admired a man who could make a good cheese without
using a particle of cream. The skimmed cheese was really
the philosopher’s stone.

C. C. Burtt: Was.amazed that so much could be
said on this matter of skimming; he really did not know
how to vote. It was all plain, for it rested with the farmers
—they were to blame if there was any blame; did not
think any resolutions would prevent it.

Mr. Lorp: Said the question had been discussed at
every meeting of this convention, and now some action
should be taken, Silence gives consent.

W. H. Stewart: The resolutions seemed like an
attempt to shift the responsibility—it was always somebody
else. The remedy lies just where the crime lies. No one
wanted to go smelling around, and tell his neighbor he was
skimming his milk and that it was wicked, and that he
should cease the practice at once—or go where wickedness
finds its reward; this would be a small and mean thing to
do. Factories are thick; confusion would be the result.
The farmer and not the factoryman should make the charge.
There is no way to get. at it. Who is going around to find
tm out? It would be similar to the tax on incomes; it
would be odious—it could not be done. Did not like the
resolutions.

Mr. Lorn said: It was stated here yesterday that the
farmers were the dishonest ones; if this was not true, it
should not be said, If there is no way to find this out,
then this statement should not be made. The person who

66 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

receives the milk should know whether it is adulterated or
not; if he has no means of knowing, then this charge
should not be made against the farmer. The person who
has the custody of the milk is the proper person to watch
this matter, and if necessary make the charge—whether it
be the richest or poorest, largest or smallest patron of the
factory. No man has any right to take any cream at all—
and no maker can say so. We are zealous about this,
because our money is in it.’ We have a right to watch this.
If one patron is crooked it interests all, and we havea right
to demand that all shall be honest. Our product is double
in value all the gold and silver inthe United States ; indeed,
it is so large that one can hardly conceive or comprehend
it, and is constantly on the increase. He spoke warmly as
to the second resolution, and the trust accepted by the man-
ufacturer—he was the proper person to detect any wrong-
doing, and should at once bring all guilty parties to justice.

C. C. BuELL objected to this debate, as it was a whole-
sale denunciation of manufacturers.

Capt. STEWART also thought it taking too much lati-
tude, inasmuch as it was attempting to place all the blame
upon the manufacturers. This was all wrong; they have
sins enough of their own, without assuming for others.

Tuos. Bishop: Said most of these charges were made
by men who did not patronize cheese factories. They sell
to the condensing factory and have no right to complain.
They take their Sunday or surplus milk to the cheese fac-
tory, and it is the poorest milk received.

After some further discussion, a vote was taken, the
resolutions were adopted by the convention, thus placing
themselves squarely on the record as against skimming, or
receiving skimmed milk at factories.

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION 67
if e
Topic No. 10.—“ Do the benefits derived from manures
equa! the depreciation of dairy stock ?”

Joun Keatinc: Thought this a hard question to
answer, but a very important one. He believed the depre-
ciation of a dairy to be at least 12% per cent.; at the same
time he believed the manure would nearly if not quite
offset this. Manure is worth $10 per head per annum from
a large dairy, if rightly applied. He thought top dressing
the best plan of application.

_Tuos. Bishop: Received more from old cows than it
cost to buy new ones; therefore it was again and not a loss
to change cows.

After some further discussion of this topic the state of
the finances of the association were thoroughly discussed.

Dr. Terrt stated the present condition of the treasury,
strongly urging all to become members, so that the pro-
ceedings might be promptly published.

R. P. McGuincy also spoke to this question. He said
the reports ought to be printed, and that the secretary
should be paid; no one could afford to work for nothing—
gratuitous labor was always dear labor.

SECRETARY THOMPSON suggested that as the annual
fee was so small—only one dollar —that all double up, and
the difficulty would be overcome at once. ‘This suggestion
seemed so sensible that the double up plan was adopted at
once, whereupon the financial condition was greatly im-
proved.

DR. SLADE said although the association were making
efforts to secure aid from the state, it might be a long time
before we could get it.

68 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

On motion of G. P. Lord two more members were
added to the committee on legislation, one of which should —
be the president. And on motion of C. C. Buell, the com-
mittee were voted power to appoint the other member—
which the committee proceeded to do by appointing Mr. M.
H. Thompson as the other member.

On motion of M. H. Thompson, it was voted to make
all members of the press, present, honorary members of the
association.

On motion of W. W. Bingham it was voted to invite
the ladies of.northern Illinois to attend and participate in
the meetings of this association. He believed the ladies
could help very much in making the meeting interesting.
He also extended a cordial invitation to all to attend the
next annual meeting of the Kishwaukee Farmers’ Club, to
be held at Marengo soon. He further invited the Illinois
State Dairymen’s Association to hold its next annual meet-

ing at Marengo.

R. P. McGuincy spoke in favor of the next meeting
being held outside of Elgin, and after some discussion it
was unanimously voted to hold the next annual meeting at
Marengo, Illinois.

Tuos. BisHop was glad to see improvement being made
in the manner of conducting the meetings. We had for-
merly been overrun with protessors. They did not come
any more; hoped we were done with them. All had some
patent, or salt, or something else, to sell.

After some further promiscuous discussion the meeting

adjourned, to meet at I p. m.

ILLINOIS STATE DA{RYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 6g

Tuurspbay, DEc. 12, 1878, % P. M.

Convention called to order as per adjournment, when
YLopic No 11—‘“‘Is it practicable to reduce the cost of pro-
ducing milk so as to correspond with the decline in prices?”

Joun Keatinc read the following paper upon this
topic:
JOHN KEATING’S PAPER.

As surely as the summer’s ploom is followed by the winter’s
snow, as surely as the copious rain is followed by the parching
dronght, as surely as the glory of mid-day is followed by the darkness
of the night; so surely are times of high prosperity and inflated
values followed by periods of depreciated stagnation and distress:
Such has been the experience of mankind from the beginning, and
such has been our experience of late.

We have passed through the happy days of prospetity, into
their pleasant heats, their fertilizing showers and their glorious sun-
shine, and we are now surrounded by wintry cold, draught and dark-
ness. What then are we to do? throw up our hands in despair, and
exclaim that it is useless to struggle agaiust hard fortune? By no
means. Despair helps nothing and summer will come again. The
question then suggests itself, is it possible for us to reduce the cost of
producing our milk so as to correspond with the decline in prices,
and thus to do as well in the future as in the past? To this I would
most emphatically answer, no. Itis not possible to reduce our ex-
penses so much, the depreciation is too great. We must be satisfied
with cheaper living and smaller profits.

But, while we cannot do everything, we can do something; we
can do much. We can lessen the cost of producing milk very much
by pursuing the right course with patience, vigor and determination’

What then is this course, and how can we pursue it? And here
I must confess I feel my inability to point out, much less lead, in
such a course, and that I can but offer a few suggestions which have
occurred to my mind.

The first, and most important step in reducing the cost of pro-
ducing milk, consists in increasing the average yield of our cows.
Worse than dull markets, worse than low prices is this fact; this

7O ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

lamentable fact, our average yield is too low. We feed sixty cows to
produce the milk that fifty ought to make. In times of high prices
we might endure this; at present it presses us severely. This ques-
tion of a high average is really a most vital one. Were we to know
the number of cows we keep for nothing, were we to know the num-
ber, we keep at an absolute loss, we should be struck with horror.
«“ Where ignorance Is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise,” may be sometimes
true, but where ignorance is loss and ruin, ’tis folly not to be wise.
Is it a fact, as often asserted that as the dairy increases our average
decreases; if so, why is it so? The principal reason is, I think,
that for years we have been pursuing a suicidal course, regardless of
many warnings. We have been selling our best calves to the butcher, -
raising few or none of our own cows and depending on the culls and
scalawags of the North-west to supply our dairies. This slaughter of
the innocents must cease. We must raise our own cows from our
best calves, and when we have done this we shall find our average
much increased, and consequently our production cheapened. It will
be of little use for us, however, to raise our own calves if we do not
take particular pains to raise good ones. In order to raise a good
average of calves, it is necessary that the cow should be a good milker
and that the calf be sired by a male of a good milking breed. This
is a matter of the most vital importance. A first-class male is a
necessity in every well conducted dairy, and the man who uses a
poor, infirm beast merely because he gets him cheaper, is very blind
to his own interest.

The importance of this question of a large average yield can
hardly be exaggerated ; it is the foundation of all successful dairying.
The man who gets from his cows an average of 24 gallons, will pros-
per, while his neighbor, who gets 2 gallons, wJl lose. Simply because
one man makes a profit, even it be a small one, while the other man
gets back barely what he gives and sometimes less, and consequently
never gains. Il firmly believe that this matter of small and decreas-
ing average yield, has injured the dairymen of the North-west more
than disease, accidents and low prices combined. We must con-
stantly bear in mind that it is on the profit we live; on the excess of
receipts over expenditures. This fact alone will account for those
cases, with which we are all familiar, where men with small dairies
and small farms have prospered, while others whose annual sales
have been much larger have lost money. We must get the dead-
heads out of our stables, we must make a better average in the future
than in the past or the depreciation in prices will ruin us.

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 7X

You will notice that in speaking of this necessity of a better
average yield from our cows that I have dwelt mainly on the neces-
sity of raising our best calves and of weeding out our poor cows. I
bave done so not because I consider that this is all that is necessary,
or even that it is of the first importance; far from it. With the best
of cows we will fail, and miserably fail,if we do not shelter them
from the cold, feed them generously and water them abundantly.
But in this matter of feed and shelter, as far as my observation and
experience goes, we have done well in the past and are doing well in
the present. In the matter of water, perhaps, this is not so generally
true. Some cows still drink in holes, broken in the ice, on rivers and
sloughs, at the risk of breaking their legs; and some travel a mile or
less across a snowy waste to a distant spring. This is all wrong, it is
expensive, it is ruinously extravagant. Clear water, abundantly sup-
plied in our barn-yard to our cows, will prove a paying investment
and will materially cheapen the production of milk.

Give me good cows, not runts or scalawags or culis, warm barns,
well ventilated, rich food, properly fed, clean spring or well, water
close at hand, careful and intelligent milkers and I will produce milk
as cheaply as it can be done in North America.

Ah! but careful and intelligent milkers are necessary, and they
cost money. Do they not cost too much? Must we not reduce the
wages we pay, if we would keep pace with the reduction in the price
of milk?
| We must; we certainly must. I believe that the laborer is
worthy of hishire. I would be the last man on earth to attempt to
oppress or grind the workingman. But we must be just to ourselves
and to our families as well as to our laborers. The dollar whicn we
pay him now has increased very much in value in purchasing power
within the past few years. Prices of clothing and food are much
lower, the expenses of an individual or family much less. We our-
selves receive much less for what we sell than we formerly did, and
justice—simple justice—demands that we should hire labor at a lower
price than we have been paying. In order to effect this it is neces-
sary that we should act together with some degree of unanimity. If
we sueceed in doing this, we will have cheapened the production of
milk so much. This question of wages is a very important one.
Dairymen must from necessity employ a great deal of help. I pre-
sume that the wages paid will average on most farms one-third, and
on some even. a larger proportion, of the expenses. A reasonable
and just reduction in wages is therefore a thing much to be desired,

f2 ILLINOIS SFATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION,

but we must guard against false economy. It is not economy to hire
a scalawag man, any more than it is to buy a scalawag cow; we must.
carefully avoid both. It is not economy to keep but one man, when ©
you have work for two. Pay good men fair wages, as the times go,
and employ enough help to do your work in a thorough and season-
able manner. With brains at the helm, I am’ convinced that the
more men employed, the more money made. Let us get out of our
farms and our cows all that isin them. Let us raise no weeds, keep
no dead-heads, and we will suecceed in spite of low prices.

It is important for us also to consider that everything
which tends to a better system of farming, to an increased yield per
acre from unplowed meadow and pasture lands, to better drainage, to
better care and application of manures, better care of tools, better
fences, more thorough eradication of weeds—the curse of the agri-
culturalist; in a word, everything that tends to thrift, economy,
enterprise and progress, will cheapen the production of milk, directly
or indirectly.

AsI have said before, l am not sanguine that with our best
endeavors we can keep pace with the depreciation in price of our
products, but this very depreciation may be profitable to us in
another way.

If the efforts that we are obliged to make to stem the tide of
bad fortune should make us better farmers than we were before, bet-
ter men than we were before ; if it should cause a renewal in us of the
old-fashioned virtues of honesty, economy and industry ; if it should
cause us to adopt the golden rule, “ Pay as you go,” if it should com-
pel us to do without superfluities and luxuries until able to pay for
them, then might we truly exclaim with the ‘“ Bard of Avon”.

‘Sweet are the uses of adversity,
That like a toad, ugly and venomous,
Bears yet a precious jewel in its head.”

Tuos. Bishop: Asked if there were not many ways
of furnishing milk. Some used a small patch of ground,
bought all their feed and made a large quantity of milk,
while some used large farms and produced no more. Which
was the better plan? Who could give the exact figures ?
He would like to know which was the cheapest. He could
keep one cow on five acres; no less. Some claimed to

YLLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 73

keep one cow on two acres; did not believe they were well
kept. As to why the price of cheese is so low? it was all
plain to him—it was because there was too much cheese.
When pork is low, there is too much pork; when wool is
cheap, there is too much wool; and the same with every-
thing else. We are now making more milk than the land
will naturally produce. We would make more money to
kill one-half of our cows and let one-half of our farms go
wild. He made eight or ten cans per day; his neighbors
made a long wagon-load; we all make too much. His
expenses, of all kinds, including texes etc., were about $900
or $1,000 per annum. As tothe loss from keeping upa
dairy—there was no loss. Hesold his fat cows for about
$40 per head, and could buy in for less money. Always
kept his cows fat and in condition to sell; he could clear
annually from his little farm $1,300 or $1,400; what large
farm could do better.

W. W. BincHAM was also in favor of small farms,
There was less wear and tear, and on the whole were far
more profitable and more desirable.

J. KeaTine said it would not do for one man to reduce
his milk one-half, with an idea of contrelling the market.
If there could be a concert of action and all do so, it might
do some good. It seemed to him that the sensible plan
was for each man to make all he could from his land, let
his farm be large or small; each farmer should keep all the
stock his farm would carry.

C. C. BUELL could see, that if you cut an article in two
pieces, how it might affect the whole; same with silver or
‘gold. Thought a good agricultural paper was a good
medium to learn how to do these things scientifically ; there
had been too many hap-hazard experiments; must get

74. ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

down to business and facts. As the Germans and French
people do, we lacked knowledge as to soils, etc. We ought
to know why bran is not good feed to make butter ; we do
not. We only know such is the case. As to the low
prices, no one rule could be adopted. No two farms were
alike; every farmer must make a rule for himself. Science
at best was nothing but good common sense.

S. N. WricHTt: Wasa small farmer. Began with 125
acres; now used but 85. Had paid out since last January
$101 for feed; had kept 43 cows. While Bishop had used
five acres of land for each cow. These five acres, at $70
per acre, would be worth $350; which, at ten per cent.,
would be $35. Now this is as much as an average cow
will yield net. Where is the profit of such farming? He
could keep one cow on two acres, worth $40 per acre—or
$80 per cow for land—the use of which at ten per cent. is
only $8. His labor was no more than Mr. B.’s, but his
- profits were much larger.

A. GULICK said the only way was to use all the manure
we can and raise all we can—if you are a dairy farmer,
then make all the milk you can. The average farmer gave
too little attention to manure. He here gave an account of
sickness in his herd, which so far he could not understand
or explain. ;

S. W. KinesLey: Wanted to know the value of salt
aS a manure, as experimented with by the Kishwaukee
Farmers’ Club.

L. W.SHELDEN said exact figures had been kept, and
would, when completed, be given to the public.

S. N. WriGur said that oil cake was an excellent feed’
for milch cows, and was not expensive in proportion to its
real value, as compared with other feed.

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 75

S. W. KincsLey also spoke in favor of oil cake, as
being a most excellent feed for dairy cows.

Henry SHERMAN: Said he was 70 years old—most
too old to make a speech. He was a city dairy farmer—
that is, he let his farm—and took all he could get for the
use of it. Could not tell whethcr he was making or losing
money ; he knew if a cow died he was pretty sure to get’
the hide. He did not believe all in one kind of farming ;
would not take all his eggs to market in one basket. He
had drifted into dairying and should most likely hang on
until he died ; could then tell whether he had made or lost.
He raised a little sweet corn for the packing factory. Sold
last year $1,200 worth. The stalks were good feed for
cows, if cut while green.

Dr. TeFrt: The glut of the market was not for the
‘best goods ; they would always sell. We make too much
poor goods. France is doing much better than America ;
her dairies are paying better; their prices are more reliable.

HENRY SHERMAN said he was the man who built the
first cheese factory in this region; sent to New York for
his outfit. There was no cheese here then and no price.
Run it the best he could, and that was poor enough, but
found he had too little religion to run the business, so got
out of it. Patrons were ungrateful; would leave you just
when you needed the milk the most, for one dollar. Fac-
torymen are now charging too high; they must come
down ; the farmer must be allowed to make an honest living,
dress well and pay the minister. |

Cox. Witcox said he had to pay 25 cents for good
butter, while poor was worthless. Butter at 25 cents does
not look like hard times. As to exporting—you do not

76 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

supply the home demand for good butter. This should be
done first, then export. All goods should be sold on their
merits—the same as Babbitt or Colgate sell soap. A trade-
mark is a valuable thing. You must make good goods, and
you will find no trouble in selling. It should all be branded
just what it is. Everything should be good. No farmer
should keep scalawag cows; they cannot afford it. The
farmer who keeps half poor and half good cows will lose ;
the account will just balance, with his time and labor
thrown in. The cow that gives one-half gallon more than
another is the cow to keep. There is where your profit is.
He strongly urged all to brand their goods. Don’t be
afraid to put your name on every cheese box or butter tub.

R. P. McGutncy also urged all to brand their packages, —
If Jones made cheese, why not put Jones’ name upon it,
with the date of its manufacture? Then a consumer could
readily tell whether he was eating a new or old “customer.”
He believed it was not as much over-production as under-
consumption, which affected the price. Make better goods,
and then we will hear no more about over-production.
Cheese is a wholesome food and cheaper than meat, and
would, if good, be largely used.

Dr. TErFFT said as the factories now charged five cents
for making butter, they were receiving more than their share
of the profit. No farmer could afford to pay this price, it
was nearly. one-third of his income during the summer
months. The factoryman has it all his own way now, and
runs his factory to make the most money for himself, and
let the dairyman take care of himself.

Gro. MARSHALL said the Blackberry factory paid 40
cents per 100 pounds. Took the milk in large cans
and they often found three or four quarts of Blackberry

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION 77)

creek mud in each can. This dirty practice is not fair;
soods made from such milk will not keep. Farmers, as a
_ rule, are run by everybody: lawyers, merchants and doctors
all have a pick at the poor farmer, and last, and worst of
all, the cheese factoryman comes in to carry off the skele-
ton. They receive your milk and make it into what they
please, pay you when it suits them, and as much as they
please and what can you do about it? They had no system.
Could not sell on board of trade. The commission men
and factorymen were in collusion to rob the farmer. There
‘is no system among them only for plunder.

Dr. TEFFT said the blame all rested with the farmer,
they could dictate where and how their milk should be
worked up. The true remedy is not to take our milk toa
factory which would not sell its products on the board of
trade. He had known farmers who had attempted to speak
on the board to be hissed down by the buyers because they
dared to talk for their side of the question. This was all
wiong. The producer, manufacturer and buyer should all
work together, their interests are mutual.

Wm. Burton said, as to selling on the board of trade,
it was not always possible or practical to do so. When the
tenth came the farmers wanted their money. Consequently
the factoryman must sell or he can’t pay. Both Marshall
and Wright were as fast for their pay as anyone else, and
would not consent for a factory to hold goods. Therefore if
there is no price on the board we must sell somewhere else.
It the patrons would back him he would sell anywhere they
chose.

MarsHALL thought that if all would sell on the board
no backing would be needed. Should sell for what they
could get. Our factories are not honestly run. The factory
he patronized was run by a broken-down lawyer, who knew

78 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

nothing about the business but to cheat the patrons. The
truth is, if all would stop selling on commission the buyers
would all come to the board to buy.

R. P. McGuincy: Was glad to hear this question dis-
cussed. He believed all should sell on the board or not at
all. It was a fact that commission men had made several
attempts to break up the board but had failed so far. Goods
should not be sold at factory. Hold till sale day, then all
will be sold at a fair price. There is generally a tail to all
sales made on commission, either in short weights, bad pay
or some other way. He urged all dairymen to patronize
the board of trade and mutually protect themselves.

WitLcox said the factorymen would look out for their
interest, so must the farmer or he would be left out in the
reckoning.

B. Cox-:wanted to know if buyers would not come to
the board meetings to buy good goods. .

WricHTt said he had known where commission men
had offered to advance money to make monthly dividends.
This clearly showed collusion.

Burton did not see how a divividend could be made
out without making a sale and showing the bills.

S. N. Wricut knew it to be a fact that a commission
man had attempted to bribe the Clintonville factory not to
sell on the board of trade. The whole manner of working
up and selling is a fraud on the producer.

After some further discussion of this subject, in which
it plainly appeared that the system, as now practiced, in
making sales was not satisfactory, the convention adjourned,
to meet at Marengo, Illinois, where the next annual meeting
will be held.

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 79

T. J. Burritt furnished the following paper, which
was received too late to come under its appropriate head :

FERMENTATION AND PUTREFACTION OF MILK.

In early times, with peoples as with individuals, the changes
which occurred in such a substance as milk when allowed tostand for
some time excited no curiosity; stirred no one to inquire why the phe-
nomena presented took place. If any thought is given to the subject
a satisfactory conclusion is reached when it dawns upon the mind
that milk sours because it is its nature to do so; it becomes unpleas-
antly odorifercus because it could not continue otherwise. From
this low beginning it is a long way and by no means one without
difficulties to the full knowledge now possessed by some investigators
of the changes and their causes which take place so persistently in
so common an article as cows’ milk. It is possible that some whose
business makes them more especially interested do not yet appreci-
ate the fact that all these ordinary changes arise from the action of
_ living organisms altogether foreign to the constituents of the milk
itself. For a long time the idea has been current that in such organic
compounds changes arose through spontaneous chemical agencies,
that the oxygen of the air is the chief factor in the production of the
results observed. This was supposed to be confirmed by the fact that
the air being driven out by heat the changes came later, or upon ex-
cluding the air, as by heating and canning, they occurred not at all.
But it has been demonstrated that pure air may have free and abund-
ant access to putrescible compounds, such as milk, without the latter
becoming in the least affected. There is no souring, no fermentation
or decomposition of any kind. The milk retains its freshness and
purity for an indefinite length of time; only the steady dessication
causes the least change. The conditions are that the air be entirely
freed from suspended particles and that the vessels be absolutely
cleaned, or heated to a sufficient degree to kill all living atoms and
their germs. It has been shown that air sufficiently filtered
through clean cotton, wool, or even allowed to settle in a perfectly
quiet reservoir is inert—absolutely incapable of producing fermenta-
tion or decay. Under such circumstances temperature has no effect.
The protected liquid is preserved just as well at 90° Fahr. as at the
freezing point. A liquid keeps its fresh condition as long as a solid
body from which all water has been evaporated.

80 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

One point remains to be fully determined. Does milk,in common
with other fluids, secreted within the body of an animal, contain, be-
fore it reaches the external air, the germs which by development and
multiplication may cause the changes usually observed? In cases of
disease living germs are often found in all the animal fluids and |
peculiar phenomena have been witnessed in such fluids after extrac-
tion and exposure.* Onthe other hand one looks in vain with the
aid of the best microscopic instruments for such living particles in
the same fluids from animals in perfect health ; at least this has been
the case in the personal observations of the writer. Blood has been
drawn with instruments made for the purpose and kept absolutely
free from living organisms, though not excluded from other agencies
to which fermentation is assigned, and preserved indefinitely without
heating above the norma] temperature of the animal from which it
came. There can scarcely be a question but that in the case of per-
fectly healthy cows, fed upon proper diet and drinking pure water,
the milk would forever keep sweet and good, if preserved from
contact and inoculation with living germs after it leaves the udder.
This latter, it is true, is a difficult accomplishment, but, as an experi-
ment, it can be done, and we certainly would be unwise to assert that
it will never be done in a simple and practical manner adapted to
ordinary use. Some simple device may overcome the almost insur-
mountable obstacle now met with, and introduce a new era in the
dairy business and household economy, leaving us all to wonder why
it was not thought of sooner. Indeed much progress has already
been made in this direction, attained for the most part by common
observation and practice. Thoroughly scalding the vessels—and this
just before as well as just after use—keeping everything clean, and
especially free from decomposing substances, beginning with the
stable and ending with the arrangements for final disposition of the
products, the lowering of the temperature, and finally the introduc-
tion of some tasteless and harmless antiseptic materials as dilute
solutions of thymol, boracic and salicylic acids—all looking towards

*Professor Orth, of Gottengen, Germany, says: ‘‘ Recent researches leave no doubt
whatever that in some diseases the blood contains during life, though to a far higher degree
after death, certain low forms of animal or vegetable life.”’

Dr. Wm, Roberts, of Mancaster, England, says the germ theory of disease ‘‘ is now
established upon a firm experimental basis.”’

Dr. Obermeir, of Berlin, and Professor Stricker, of Vienna, find low plants, fungi, in
the blood of patients suffering from relapsing fever

Dr. Neftel, of New York, says: ‘‘ My experiments so far lead me to the conclusion
that the lower vegetable organisms ean continue to live and multiply in the tissues of living
animals,’’

Dr. J. G. Richardson, of the University of Pennsylvania, reports the experiment of
pygllowing bacteria and afterwards finding numbers of them in the blood drawn from his

nger,

“ILLINOIS STATE DA{RYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. Si

the prevention of infection by, and development of, microscopic germs
—surely thisis progress. When thoroughly understood and appreci-
ated that these and similar operations are really for the purpose of
killing or retarding the development of living organisms, capable of
wondrously multiplying themselves in a very short period of time,
and causing the uninvited phenomena which so constantly present
themselves in the absence of these precautions, and when it is further
confidently known that the destroying agents are altogether foreign
to the prized liquid itself, shall we not use the means already at our
hand with more intelligence, in better directions, by more economic-
al methods and with surer results? It is sonow. Those who have
adopted the germ theoy of fermentation in all its faces, and proceed
accordingly, are most and surest successful in the management of
milk.

We have been so long accustomed to the idea that organic
bodies, and especially those of animal origin not wholly freed from
water, spontaneously decompose, it is exceedingly difficult, without
ocular demonstration, to fully comprehend that in and of themselves
such substances as milk, urine, blood, etc., are as stable and unyield-
-ing to the inorganic elements as the stone of which the everlasting
hills are composed, yet this is the doctrine which is now and here
advocated. It is the docrine upon which is based the great domestic
and commercial interests in the canning of fruits, meats, etc., and
even in the dessication of these products. But, it may be asked, are
there no changes in the character of milk, in the flavor of cheese, as
in “ripening,” or the quality of butter, as when becoming old and
rancid, not brought about by the action, direct or indirect, of living
things, too small to be recognized by the unaided eye? What, for in-
stance, is the reason that the liquid in which a bit of a calve’s stomach
(rennet) has been macerated in a warm place, so soon causes sweet
milk to coagulate? Is this, too, dependent upon particles possessed
with an individuality of life quite independent of that of the animal
from which the stomach came? Is, indeed the calf itself indebted to
such assistance from myriads of microscopic but effective agents? Is
the digestion of our own dinners this day brought about, not wholly
by ourselves, but by multitudes of co-laborers that have never re-
ceived our thanks for their important services?

The asking of such questions may be considered fanatical, even
distasteful or almost sacrilegious by some, yet he who thinks closely
and observes carefully, especially if he bas the time and means for

82 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

proper investigation, cannot avoid them if he enters upon the sub-

ject at all. The microscope shows in the solution from rennet as

much of the germ theory of change as it does in the fermentation of
milk when left exposed in the ordinary manner, and this evidence is _
convincing in avery high degree. Other phenomena coincide to

make the conclusion irresistable. The living organism in the rennet

is killed by heat, it propagates itself in a suitable liquid with the

astonishing rapidity of its congeners usually found outside of living

animals; a little used as seed permeates a great bulk of nutritive

substance, as a little leaven (yeast, a plant) in the olden as well as

the modern time, leavened the whole lump. The rennet plant can

thus be cultivated, as the yeast plant is,and possibly in a much more

convenient method than at present known. It is a plant, living,

multiplying, absorbing, assimilating, dying—very low in the scale of
classification, and scarcely differing from the equally low forms of
animal life, yet having a definiteness and individuality whlch in

some respects those of the highest rank, the lords of creation, might

do well to imitate.

Let this example suffice. If the coagulation of sweet milk, by
the aid of rennet, can be proved to be due to the action of organisms
in a living state are we not prepared to accept the same or a similar
agency for any change which we observe in this, apparently, un-
stable fluid? But the evidence concerning some of these changes, as
that of souring, is still more direct, certainly better and more gener-
ally known. We cannot be far wrong in concluding that all the pro-
cesses, through which milk and its products pass, are results, direct
or indirect, of living, lowly organized plants or animals. Customers
say the higher organized animals have something to do with certain
changes of which we do not speak.

What is the nature of the microscopic creatures to which such
marked results are attributed? The word fungi, now in general use,
is commonly introduced whenever any name is applied to the organ- .
isms with which we have to deal. But thisis applied to an immense
order of plants of which the members differ among themselves
almost as much as the trees of the forests and grasses of the fields.
They have something in common as to their food and mode of life;
but differ wondrously in appearance, in size, in method of propaga-
tion, etc. There are probably not less than twenty-five hundred
species of fungi growing naturally in Illinois. Some are found upon
old logs, some on upright trunks, some on or in the soil, some only ©

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 83

on the excrements of cattle,ssome on dead twigs,some on living leaves.
some on the skins of animals and some in decomposing fluid sub-
stance. We can hardly imagine a place on or in the earth, or organic
substance of any kind, where or upon which fungi are not found of
one kind or another. We pride ourselves upon our cleanliness, but
it is not hazardous to assert that every human being in our broad
prairie state has living fungi in his mouth. Nevertheless the ubi-
quitous beings are subject to prescribed conditions of growth. They
must have the proper food each according to its kind, the proper
amount of moisture, the proper degree of heat etc. The well in-
formed advocate of spontaneous generation of organic species does
not think of asserting that the specific forms now existing are self-
produced from the inorganic elements. Whether this process is ever
true or not, even the lowest forms that can be classified and so
distinguished as fungi have, as all scientists admit, sprung from
parents like themselves. If spontaneous generation is true, it applies
to still lower living atoms, which reach characteristic distinctiveness
only through long series of development and so gradual change as
scarcely or not at all to be noticed within the span of a human life.
We may therefore say the species of fungi are as distinct as those of
the higher plants with which we are better acquainted.

Again, the names mold or mildew are very often used in con-
nection with such fungi as are supposed to be the cause of disease, of
fermentation, putrefaction, etc. But these are so yeneral in their
application that little or no information can be conveyed by their
use. If restricted to such species as are so commonly met with on
bread, cheese, fruits, etc., the popular statements in regard to their
effects are much exaggerated. For a long time it was supposed that
yeast used in the making of bread and beer was a submerged form
of various species of true molds, but this is conclusively shown to be
an error. The blue mold that forms on bread is not the same or
nearly the same whieh causes the fermentation of the flour in the
process of raising. The molds of different kinds which appear
around the edges of a neglected milk pan bear no relation to the
much simpler form which induces the souring. Itis probable that
the species of molds in a restricted sense, do cause some of the phe-
nomena to which this paper is devoted, but they are far from being
the principal agents in the work. When they occur on milk that has
stood in a warm place for some time it may be observed that there
is a conspicuvus absence of the putrid odor arising from such milk

84 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

devcid of the molds. These are, in fact, scavengers converting the
partially decomposed materials into odorless carbonic acid and water.

Professor Law, some years ago, published drawings of fungi
which he believed were developed in the milk from germs taken by
the cows in the water they drank. After careful inspection of the
figures it seems almost certain that an error was made in the inter-
pretation of these growths. His general conclusion may have been
eorrect, probably was, but the organisms he observed were not those
causing the difficulty. It is exceedingly doubtful whether the germs
of any fungus of the rank and development of the common molds
ever passed through the secretory apparatus of any animal. The
crude statements about till:tia caries (bunt of wheat), etc., being found
in the blood of cattle, has been often enough refuted. |

In a recent classification of fungi (Sachs’ Text Book of Botany)
two orders are given including plants of lower grade than any known
mo'ds, which embrace the principal agents in these processes of fer-
mentation and putrefaction of milk and other substances, viz: the
schizomycetes and the saccharomyces. The former includes the organ-
isms known as bacteria and vibrios, all microscopic, and some of them
the smailest living things of which we have any knowledge; the
latter contains the yeast plants. Speaking of those of the first order
in a wide sense as bacteria, it may be said that they are so minute
that they were entirely unknown until the microscope reached a
high degree of perfection, and for this same reason their presence is
still often overlooked. But it is to these almost invisible objects
that we must attribute the main effects in the processes of which we
write. It is to these that contagious diseases are mostly due, if indeed
to anv living thing. I have been permitted through the courtesy of
Dr. H. J. Detmers, one of the United States’ commissioners for the
investigation of the so-called hog-cholera, to repeatedly observe in
the blood, contents of the intestines, urine, etc., of diseased pigs
great numbers of infinitesimal belonging to this group. Upon inoc-
ulation, or in some cases upon feeding these living atoms to healthy
swine, the disease was produced time and again. introducing a half
drop of blood-serum containing these bacteria into a vial of pure
milk the Jatter soon became swarming full of the same objects.
Again transferring a minute portion of the infected milk to fresh
material like the first, multiplication of the bacteria took place, and
inoculation from the second vial in the ear of a pig produced the
disease in about the same length of time as before. To see the form

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 85

of these organisms a glass of excellent definition was required, and a
power of at least eight hundred diameters. Yeast cells (of bread)
are mountains compared with them. If any living things find their
way through the animal tissues and escape, as with the milk, we may
safely conclude it is something of this description. There is no
evidence that higher and larger fungi as ordinary molds are ever
developed from the minute forms described.

When fresh milk from healthy cows is placed under a high
magnifier (500 to 1,000 diameters) the thin stratum appears violently
agitated by currents caused by evaporation, etc., and by the molecu-
lar, oscillating motion known as the Brownian movement, but no
bacteria can be found. Examine the same milk after it has stood in
a warm place a few hours, and before evidence of acidity except to
litinus paper is presented, a few bacteria may be observed ; before
coagulation they are quite common and finally become in some cases
excessively numerous. Milk put in well-stoppered, scalded vials
kept in a temperature of from 80° to 90° Fahr. sometimes becomes
very sour but suffers no further change. But frequently after souring
the inclosed liquid becomes ‘putrid and highly odoriferous. Upon

“examining two such as these the difference can be ascertained. The

former contains one kind of bacteria, the latter two. The first is at
the outset minute and spherical or cylindrical and composed of
joints which are often more or less bent upon each other. Its move-
ments are of an oscillatory character, with slight or no progress in
any direction. The second is not unlike the first in shape, though
not so distinctly composed of easily-separated joints, but it moves
with an endwise sliding motion of apparently, under the microscope,
great rapidity. One is the lactic ferment, the other is the putri-
factive ferment. They may occur together or either may exist with-,
out the other. But the lactic organism appears either more common
or more active in its work.

‘In one experiment three vessels were placed in the same tin
vessel which closed tightly. Milk fresh from a cow was placed in all
of the inclosed vessels, which were of glass with open top. In
number one the blade of a pen-knife was dipped which had previ-
ously been inserted in sour milk swarming with the lactic ferment.
In number two a minute amount of milk just coagulated was placed,
and number three was left as it was. Coagulation took place in
the order named with about two hours intervening between the first
and second and six hours between the second and third. After two

86 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

days a mold whose creeping filaments were previously observed, ap-
peared on the first and after one more day upon the second but the
third became wholly dried before tne mold fruited. This mold
proved to be mucor mucedo.

Other experiments confirmed the announcements made by
others that the bacteria are disseminated slowly through the air
while mold fungi fly readily everywhere. The former are especially
distributed with liquids and remain though dried in contact with
solid surfaces, ready to commence action at anytime nutritive sub-
stances reach them. The minutest quantity of old milk, not thor-
oughly scalded, may infect any bulk of fresh material.

The following paper, by G. E. Morrow, Professor of
Agriculture, Illinois Industrial University, was read:

DAIRYING AS A PART OF GENERAL FARMING.

This meeting is held in a part of the state in which the dairy is
a leading agricultural interest, if indeed it be not decidedly the chief;
and in a city which is most widely known as a “dairy center.” The
active and influential members of the association are those who are
directly interested in dairying, as their chief or exclusive business.
It is natural and proper that most of the discussion should be on the
topics in which the experienced dairymen—those who make milk, or
butter or cheese production or sale their chief or only business—feel
the greatest interest. But we should not forget that over more than
‘three-fourths of the state, on a very large majority of the 200,000
farms of the state, dairying, in the sense in which those present use
the word, is almost or quite unknown. Yet, of the 700,000 cows, in
‘round numbers, owned in Illinois, at least a majority are found out-
side the “ dairy region ” of the state. Many of these are owned by
residents of towns and villages, and many others by farmers who
keep them mainly for rearing calves, often not milking them at all ;
but we still have an immense production of milk and of butter by
those who never think of themselves as dairymen, and are never
thought of as such; and who manifest little interest in the proceed-
ings of such associations as this.

It is also to be remembered that dairying, as a somewhat prom-
inent industry, is spreading into new sections of the state ; that many
farmers who have grown grain, or beef, or pork, as their only pro-
ducts, are thinking whether the dairy does not offer better profits.

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 87

In this paper, I can only suggest, and not fully discuss, a few of
the things which these facts and the present condition of the dairy
interest generally, make it worth our while to think about. I cannot
expect some of my statements to be accepted by all.

Starting, then, with the general propositions that it is entirely
possible, even if not probable, that any industry may be overdone;
that a considerable diversity of production is undoubtedly best for a
country or for a large community, and generally for an individual
farmer ; that in farming, as in other businesses in this country, it is
coming to be increasingly important that all the resources, whether
in laads or in labor, shall be made the best use of during as much of
the time as possible, and that future profits from farm products gen-
erally, including dairy products, will probably not be as large as they
have often been in the past, I believe the future increase of dairying
will be more in the way of its being made a more or less prominent
feature of farming, and that a less proportion of the dairy products
will be produced by those who give to these exclusive attention.
There are very many cases in which, undoubtedly, it will be best to
make milk almost or literally the only article sold from the farm, but
_ I firmly believe there are many farms and some localities from which
better returns will be secured for the future by increased attention
to grain raising even; certainly to grain raising for home consump-
tion by increased attention to rearing and feeding some cattle and
hogs or sheep. It is not long since very many successful dairymen
insisted that, however true in theory, it was not true in practice, that
dairymen should aim to rear their own cows. There has been much
change of view as to this; but there needs to be more, until, as it
seems to me, it shall be the exception and not the rule for dairymen
to buy cows.

The experiences of the year have made ussee more clearly than
some of us saw even a year ago, that it is not at all a matter of course
that comfortable profits will come to the dairyman; and I repeat
what J have before said, that I see no reason to believe we are again
to see such large average returns from the dairy as we did for a con-
siderable series of years. Dairy farmers must carefully consider
whether or not they can produce the grain feed for their cows cheaper
than they can buy it; whether or not they can afford to continue to
make a half or a whole day’s work of delivering milk to the depot
or the factory ; whether or not even the manager of the farm must
do something more than “see to things;” whether or not “ deacon-
ing ” calves is the best course.

88 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

Probably there will be little dissent from the suggestion that
those who have not been largely engaged in dairying, and commu-
nities in which other branches of farming have long been pursued,
should make the change into dairying only with care and slowly;
that it will rarely be wise to at once get all the farms in grass, and as
soon as possible fully stock them with cows. But I advise this con-
tinuance of former work, not as a temporary course, while a trial is
being made, and such farmers are learning a new business, but as a
permanent policy in regions in which stock rearing and feeding has
proved profitable in the past, and where skill and some reputation
has been acquired and good facilities for such farming accumulated,
I cannot count it wise to look forward to abandoning this, except in
special cases.

For years I have countea it one of the most important helps to
continued prosperity for our cheese-producing interest, that more at-
tention be paid to developing and supplying, in the best possible
way, the home demand for cheese. Over a very large part of Illinois
I see no good reason why each county should not produce at least as
much cheese as its population consumes; why one or two or three
factories should not be mainly engaged in making cheese for the loca!
markets. With the direct sales which could thus be made, certainly ©
as good net prices should be obtained, and it ought to be easier to
obtain a local reputation than to successfully compete with the whole
country. AndsoI should be glad to see new cheese factories in
many counties of the state; not great, costly buildings and arrange-
ments for using the milk of 1,000 cows, but neat, cheap, economically
managed factories, the milk for which should be largely furnished by
neighboring farmers, into whose minds might never come the thought
of exclusive dairying, but who should find it payed them well to
keep anywhere from half a dozen to two score good cows, well cared
for, the milk from which, or a part of which, should be daily carried
to the factory by the team of the factory owners, or some neighbor
living further from the factory, while the farmers go on with their
“general farm work.”

: If it seems that I have understated the advantages of the dairy
‘as an exclusive reliance for the farmer, I may make partial amends
by magnifying its importance as a help to profitable farming by those
who will continue to make some other branches their chief reliances.
So long as the custom continues of making almost all American
cheese after one general model, it is to be expected the factory sys-
tem will practically abolish farm making of cheese; but this will not

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 89

be true as to butter and milk. Farmers everywhere will need and
will use milk and butter for their own tables, and very many of them
will continue to make butter for sale. As the country grows older,
and the villages and towns grow larger, there will be a larger propor-
tion of the whole population who will need to buy their supplies.
Probably the milk supplies of cities and larger towns will continue
to come mainly from those who make thisa special business; but
there is no reason why thousands of general farmers should not
make first-class butter, and, securing a local reputation for so doing,
receive a good price for it. The leading hotel of the neighboring
town must get its butter somewhere, as must its leading citizens, and
there is no reason why a neighboring farmer should not supply them
at something above the regular price. As good butter can be made
in a private dairy as can be made at acreamery. That it is not so
good as a rule, is clearly true, but it can be so made, and is by a good
number.

Where farmers expect to make butter for their own use, and
often to have some to sell, it is clearly only good economy to provide
such facilities as will make it possible to have the product good, and
very often it will be found little more costly to provide for making
twice the quantity absolutely necessary. Thre great mass of the
butter made in the country will long continue to be poor in quality,
and most of it made during the summer. The shrewd farmer will
adapt his course to meet these facts, and most often, it would seem,
he can best do this by making good butter, if any, and by making
most of what he will need to sell, in winter. The arguments in favor
of winter dairying, where buter is to be made in factories, are much
more generally admitted than they were a few years ago. But if
they have weight in such cases, they have equal force in the case of
the farmer. His cows must be kept in any event, and they ought to
have nearly the same care whether giving milk or not. Asarule he
will expect to have milk and butter enough for his own family, and
if this much can be cared for, more can be. The special dairyman
may be’but little more busy in summer than at any other season, but
for the general farmer midsummer is not only the time when it is
most disagreeable to milk and care for it, but it is also the season
when, both on the farm and in the house, most is to be done. It is
easier to provide for the proper care of milk in cold weather than to
guard against the ill effects of extreme heat.

Another class, which may well give increased attention to
dairying, is that engaged in rearing beef cattle more or less largely.

gO ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION.

Doubtless with cheap lands and comparatively dear labor, the prac-
tice of allowing the calves to suckle the cows, receiving all the milk,
has often been the most profitable. But I cannot believe this is to
continue. A good cow can and will give more milk than is necessary
for rearing her calf if it be otherwise well fed. Either by the plan
sometimes followed, of giving one cow two calves and milking the
dam of the other, or by milking and feeding skim milk; supplemented
with other food, it seems certain the time is coming in this state
when a more profitable use can be made of the milk than to have
the caives take it all.

For such farmers, as well as for “ general farmers” almost uni-

versally, it seems certain the best cows are those cows which combine
milk and meat producing ability in good degree, even if they do not
in either reach the highest point.

That I may not be misunderstood, I may say in the way of
summary: I do not at all believe the teaching that a farmer should,
necessarily, produce everything he uses, if this be possible; if he
can buy cheaper than he can rear or manufacture, it is best economy
to buy. But where there is a question as to which is the cheaper
course, it is safer to lean to the side of home production. I would
not advise a farmer to fritter away his time and strength in produc-
ing small quauntities of a multitude of products; he will do best to
have one, or two, or three things to which he gives chief attention ;
but I grow to believe more and more strongly, that it is scarcely ever
safe for a series of years, to depend on any one specialty, and so I
would always have “more than one string to my bow.” I do not
take a hopeless view of the prospects of dairying; it has as bright
an outlook as perhaps any branch of agriculture. Money is to be
made from the dairy for long years to come; but, as I read the indi-
cations, it will rarely be wise for communities or individual farmers,
unless in exceptional circumstances, to make milk and its products
the only source of expected profit. Gyrain-growing and stock-rearing
farmers will often do well to make more of the dairy than they have
in the past. A very large part of the butter product of the ‘country
will continue to be made at farm-houses. Winter butter making has
some special advantages for the farmers as well as for the creamery
proprietors. Cheese factories may profitably be established in many
localities where they are now unknown, especially with a view of
developing and supplying the home demand. For the great mass of
farmers, those cows are best which are well suited for both meat and
milk making. |

ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. QI
LARGE MILKERS.

Much has been written and said of late, in regard to
the different breeds, as regards their milking qualities.
Without any prejudice we give below the yield of a Hol-
stein cow, the property of Dr. J. Tefft, of Elgin, Illinois.
She is an imported cow, and is booked in the herd book,
under the name of “‘ Zwaan,’ and from the figures, which
are taken from actual daily weights, she certainly ranks
high among the great milkers of the country:

From May 12th, 1878, to March 12th, 1879, inclusive,
her yield was 12,610% pounds, or about 1,462 gallons.
The time being 298 days, would make a daily average of
nearly five gallons per day. May 5th, 1870, she again
became a fresh milker, and now bids fair to exceed her last
year’s record.

Py

pe:
Oey ly A ie
RAN Muah oa

ernie
Sree

3.011207