22S 



of Wisconsin farmers. Our prosperity, as a State, depends upon their 

 success. May they therefore study to make themselves acquainted theo- 

 retically and practically with the science of agriculture, and carry their 

 researches into all the natural sciences ; and by a correct system of men- 

 tal and moral education, be prepared to take a conservative part in all 

 of the great moral questions of the day, and bring to the counsels of our 

 State and Nation not only an enlightened mind, but a good conscience. 

 That the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society may be greatly instru- 

 mental in producing this result is my sincere wish. 



Yours, respectfully, 



URIAL H. PEAK. 



To Albert C. Ingham, Esq., 



Sec. of the Wis. State A^r. Society. 



DAIRYING. 



FiTCHBUEGH, December 10, 1852. 



Mr Dear Sir: — Your letter of Dec. 5th, requesting me to furnish my 

 experience in butter and cheese making, and requesting my views in rela- 

 tion to the business of dairying generally, its present condition in Wis- 

 consin, and its prospects for becoming a leading and profitable branch of 

 business to our farmers, was duly received ; and desirous of doing what- 

 ever may be in my power to hasten improvement in the agriculture of 

 our State, I comply Avith your request by placing at your disposal the 

 following thouo^hts and sur^estions : 



While I have never considered Wisconsin, as a whole, to be preemi- 

 nently a dairying State, yet there are many portions which are well 

 adapted to the business, and in which the farmers will find a source of 

 profit equal to, if not surpassing, that realized in some of the best grain 

 growing districts of the West. It is obvious that the native or prairie 

 grass does not furnish the kind of pasturage requisite and necessary to 

 render the business profitable — a fact which every farmer who has spent 

 a few years in this country well knows. The advantages of pasturage 

 upon timothy grass, clover and red-top, for cows, are readily acknow- 

 ledged, but the opinion is so prevalent, that these grasses cannot be 



