234 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



price porbiisliel is hi<^lioi-. The great transportation regulator evens 

 it up just the 8ame with [)Otatoes as it does witli all other farm pro- 

 ductions, beef and dairy products. This part of the subject brings 

 us home to our old stamping ground, cattle husbancbT, the founda- 

 tion stone of a prosperous agriculture. In all older sections of the 

 country it is indispensable on account of its contributing to the soil 

 a fertilizing material that assists the growth of all crops. And in the 

 new sections more convenient on account of not having home markets 

 for other productions, and being easier conveyed to far off markets. 



We lind reported in the United S'ates Commissioner's Report of 

 1884 whole number of cattle in this country 42J million. We also 

 find at that time 13 J million milch cows. According to the past in- 

 crease probablv there are more than 15 million at the present time. 

 When we add to the cows the heifers growing up to make cows, we 

 find very near the same amount invested in the dairv interests as in 

 the beef- growing interests, and this divides the cattle industry into 

 two distinct interests. Following up the same report we find the 

 gross yearly increase from the dairy to be 350 million dollars. We 

 also find the gross 3'early increase of the beef-growing interest to be 

 very near 240 million dollars. These figures prove the fact that the 

 cattle industry of this country pays to the farmers nearly one- half the 

 capital invested in it as a gross yearly increase, besides the fertiliz- 

 ing material that cannot be measured by dollars and cents. It also 

 proves that the dairy interest pays 110 million dollars more than 

 the beef-growing interest, less the amount that should be charged for 

 the extra labor for manufacturing the milk into butter and cheese. 

 The cheap grazing land in the West has caused man}- States in the 

 East to accept dairying more as a specialty within the last few years. 

 The State of New York, for instance, has two million cow kind 

 against 448 thousand oxen and steers. The State of Massachusetts 

 comes next, Vermont next. Maine is very nearly divided, but all in- 

 dications seem to point in the direction of more dairying for Maine. 

 Some twelve years ago, when wheat-growing failed in the great State 

 of Iowa, farmers were obliged to accept cattle husbandr3\ Large 

 butter factories have been established and Iowa creamer}' butter 

 holds a strong position in the markets of this country to-day. I had 

 the good fortune to meet a gentleman who told me that he kept about 

 100 cows and sold his cream to a certain butter factory company ; 

 be said his cows paid him about S30 per cow per year. And this is a 



