Thirty-sixth Annual Convention 915 



THE CHEESE INDUSTRY 

 S. B. ElCilAKDSON, LOWVILLE, N. Y. 



Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : When the secretary of this 

 association invited me to say something with regard to the cheese 

 industry, having in mind on this occasion both the commercial 

 and the industrial side of it, I felt that he was putting me 

 in rather an unenviable position, for I knew that I would have 

 as my auditors many who know much more about the cheese 

 industry from the manufacturer's side, especially the scientific 

 side of cheese and its making, than I do. I have had some experi- 

 ence on the commercial side of the industry, and it is on that side 

 that I propose to occupy a few moments of your time, and that 

 only, as the chairman has suggested, to start you along a line 

 of inquiry seeking after information that will make this session 

 the success that the association hopes it will be. 



I want to say in the first place that for the last twenty years 

 cheese making in Isew York — in which state more cheese is made 

 than in any other state in the Union, approximating nearly 50 

 per cent, of all the cheese made in this country — has had the 

 attention of the law-makers of the state, and that they have framed 

 laws which have appeared upon the statute books from time to 

 time, meant for the development and the pushing of this industry. 

 I believe that this assistance of the state has been of almost ines- 

 timable benefit to dairymen. The commissioner of agriculture is 

 doing whatever he can, consistent with the statutes which are 

 before him as his guide, to assist in bringing our industry to 

 a higher state of development. His predecessors in that office did 

 some good work, and I believe that the result of their work has all 

 been of the same trend, to give us assistance in bringing about 

 a better condition of things. 



I wish to sav following this, that the statistics of cheese making 

 in this state show a general falling off in the amount made. 

 The oldest statistics gathered by the department of agriculture of 

 cheese made in this state are for 1892. In that year I think there 

 were something like 131,00.0,000 pounds. That is the largest 

 amount made in one year during the period that the statistics have 

 been gathered. I find by referring to the table that in that same 



