118 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



in appearance as they lie on the tables, that the most practiced 

 eye could scarcely detect any difference in their manufacture. 

 Such a quantity of cheese, uniform in size and quality, will usually 

 command a higher price in market over that of single dairies, from 

 the fact that in the latter an allowance is always made by the pur- 

 chasers for unequal or imperfect cheese. Factory cheese generally 

 sells at a price above that of single dairies equal to the whole cost 

 of manufacturing. In November, 1862, long dairies, made in fam- 

 ilies, of good qualit}', were selling at from ten cents to twelve and 

 a half cents per pound, while factory cheese, of Oneida, sold at 

 fourteen cents per pound, and the large size, those weighing from 

 700 to 1,000 pounds each, brought in some instances as high as 

 seventeen cents per pound. 



We have alluded to some of the causes that operate to increase 

 the price of well made factory cheese over that of private dairies. 

 Another may be added, in the less time, trouble and expense of 

 purchashing. The whole quantity made from six hundred or a 

 thousand cows can be bargained for and bought at no more time 

 and expense than a " twenty cow" dairy. This item amounts to 

 a considerable sum in the aggregate, as experts are employed by 

 the principal commission houses in cities, by shippers and dealers, 

 to select and purchase cheese, under salaries ranging from $500 to 

 $1,000 per year. Others, again, get a certain percentage on what 

 they buy: These sums, of course, come out of the producer, and 

 hence by so much must depreciate the price of cheese. Another 

 saving is also made in buying the materials used, such as bandage, 

 salt, annatto, boxes, etc., at wholesale instead of retail. 



We come now to consider the most important advantage to 

 farmers in this union arrangement. It is the relief from the drudg- 

 ery of cheese making, and the constant care and attention neces- 

 sary in properly curing and fitting the cheese for market. It 

 would be difficult to estimate this in dollars and cents, since health 

 enters into the account more largely than is generally suspected. 



It is believed, and we speak advisedly, that the old method of 

 cheese making has done more to injure the health of women in 

 cheese dairying districts than any other cause. Much of the work 

 about the dairy ought to be performed by men, but too often the 

 manufacturing and most of the care of cheese are left wholly to 

 females, overtasking their strength by hard and exhaustive labor, 

 thereby laying the foundation of weakness -and disease. 



