252 Repokt op the Dairy Department of the 



carefully examined by itself and in its relation to otlier factors 

 and to the finished product. In cheese production, however^ 

 though it is a manufacturing enterprise and one of great impor- 

 ance, this busiuess-like, systematic study of details has been 

 given by very few makers. It will, perhaps, not appear so 

 strange that such is the case when we consider the development 

 of the cheese industry. The time is not yet very remote when 

 practically all New York State cheese was made in the home 

 dairy, no factories being in existence. Then it would be noticed 

 in a community that one farmer was more successful than his 

 neighbors in handling the milk from his herd, and secured a 

 better price for his products. To avail themselves of this 

 advantage from better management of the milk, these neighbors 

 turned over to this better qualified manufacturer the raw mate- 

 rial from their own herds. As the economy in handling products 

 in quantity became apparent, to say nothing of improvement in 

 quality, it led to a rapid extension of the system, until the fac- 

 tory business has grown to its present proportions and home 

 cheese-making has become almost a lost art. • 



The entire procedure in successful cheese-making has been 

 founded, until within a few years, on tradition and good judg- 

 ment. Experience rather than a knowledge of principles has 

 been the maker's guide. At first the young man who had worked 

 for that successful dairy farmer long enough to acquire a thor- 

 ough knowledge of his methods was employed when a new cen- 

 ter of cheese-making was established; but the building of new 

 factories soon outstripped the supply of men well prepared to 

 manage them. So long as each factory could get for its head a 

 trained man of good judgment, thoroughly impressed with the 

 necessity of strictly observing the constantly varying conditions 

 of the atmosphere and well aware of the effect of these and 

 other conditions upon the quality of his product, these coopera- 

 tive factories were fairly successful. When the demand for 

 factories became greater, men competent to manage all of them 

 were not available; and the mediocre cheese-maker, handicapped 

 as he often was by his location in a factory poorly planned and 



