82 State Board of Agriculture, c%c. 



The system was first inaugurated bj a substantial farmer 

 by the name of Williams, living at Rome, Oneida County, 

 New York, and was suggested from mere accidental circum- 

 stances. Mr. Williams was an experienced and skillful 

 cheese maker ; his dairy, therefore, enjoyed a high reputa- 

 tion, and was eagerly sought for by dealers. One of his 

 sons, having married, entered upon farming on his own 

 account, turning his attention to dairying, and proposed to 

 lift his debt by cheese making. But he could not be sure 

 of as good prices as his father's make always commanded. It 

 was therefore arranged between father and son, that the 

 milk from the new farm should be brought over in cans and 

 made up in the paternal cheese room. Meanwhile the 

 father had contracted the cheese at a figure considerably 

 hio;her than was beino; oflfered for other dairies in that vicin- 

 ity. The plan worked admirably, and the. next year neigh- 

 bors sought admittance as partners or patrons. It was from 

 this small beginning, that has sprung into existence one of 

 the greatest industries of tiie agriculturists of this country, 

 and relieved thousands of its burdened and over-worked far- 

 mers' wives of the heavy drudgery of the cheese room. And 

 here it may be proper to observe, that one of the inconven- 

 iences which is widely felt among dairymen results from 

 the difficulty of obtaining careful and reliable hands for the 

 management of the dairy. If it is desirable to make first 

 class cheese, that will command in market the highest price, 

 all the operations of manufacture must be performed by 

 tried and skillful hands, hands chat can rarely be obtained 

 for hire, and, when obtained, command comparatively large 

 wages. 



