22 ANNUAL REPORTS OP DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Most of the cheese in this country has been made in the territory 

 around the Great Lakes, where climatic conditions are favorable to the 

 handling of whole milk. All the valleys in the Rocky Mountain sec- 

 tion and a large area on the Pacific coast offer splendid conditions 

 for cheese production. So, also, does the mountain section of the 

 South, including parts of West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, North 

 Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Three factories have been 

 established in one of these States and have been very successful. 



Cooperative associations. — Rigid selection, intelligent breeding, 

 and skillful feeding are important factors in economical production. 

 Cow-testing associations teach rigid selection and skillful feeding. 

 Cooperative bull associations promote intelligent breeding. In 

 cooperation with the various State agricultural colleges the depart- 

 ment has greatly extended the work of these associations. For 

 several years cooperative bull associations have been common in 

 some parts of Europe. The first association of the kind in the 

 United States was organized in Michigan in 1908. In this country 

 their growth has not been rapid, but as a rule they have been suc- 

 cessful. They provide for the joint ownership, use, and exchange 

 of high-class, pure-bred bulls. If skillfully managed, these asso- 

 ciations should become potent factors in the upbuilding of a more 

 profitable dairy industry. 



A large part of the work of the cow-testing associations and 

 cooperative bull associations has been done in the North and West. 

 In Wisconsin alone there are more than 50 cow-testing associa- 

 tions, while the cooperative bull associations have been especially 

 successful in Massachusetts, northern Michigan, and North Dakota. 

 The dairy industry in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast States 

 recently has made great progress, owing in part to the importation of 

 carefully selected dairy cows and registered bulls from the East and 

 Middle West. Its development in the South has been very marked 

 during the past year. A beginning was made in the work of cow- 

 testing associations and cooperative bull associations. Five of the 

 agricultural colleges have organized creameries to encourage dairy- 

 ing and to provide a market for the increased production of milk 

 and cream. These creameries furnish excellent facilities for teach- 

 ing students improved methods of manufacturing and handling dairy 

 products. 



