1882.] ASSOCIATED DAIRIES. 245 



Rome, New York, as the originator of the factory system of 

 dairying, in 1850. 



Some others had tried the same plan before, but he was suc- 

 cessful in such a way as to induce others to follow in his 

 track. Progress at first was slow, as is usual in such cases. In 

 I860, in ten years, about thirty-eight factories were erected. 

 During the war, the scarcity of labor made factories desirable, and 

 by the end of 1866 five hundred factories were in operation — the 

 cheese factories being devoted to cheese alone — the creameries to a 

 mixed sale of cream, butter, and. skimmed milk, or skimmed milk 

 cheese. In 1870, the product was so great and of such quality, 

 that factory butter and cheese were included in the regular market 

 quotations, and from that time until now, always at higher prices 

 than farm dairy products. 



In 1872 Mr. Willard estimated the number of factories in New 

 York State alone to be over one thousand. This number has 

 increased so greatly, that it is now supposed to be nearer two 

 thousand. 



In parts of Canada and. Ohio and Pennsylvania, many factories 

 were in operation in 1872. At about that time I heard it gravely 

 urged in a dairyman's convention in Utica, that there was a 

 natural dairy belt of country beyond which the production of 

 butter and cheese must necessarily be small. Portions of New 

 England, and perhaps Western Virginia might be included, but 

 outside of the favored region were prolonged droughts, and no 

 good summer pasture. (At this time very few creameries ran 

 through the winter.) But what a change a few years has brought 

 about ! A few winter factories in the neighborhood of Elgin, 

 Illinois, have demonstrated that grain and meal can take the place 

 of our superior hay, and that winter made butter can be as good 

 as any other, and more cheaply produced than in the East. The 

 superior enterprise of the Western dairyman has grasped the situ- 

 ation, and invented various methods of gatl.ering milk and cream 

 suited to a sparsely settled country. Patrons find that dairying 

 in many cases pays better than selling grain, and so the purchase 

 and breeding of cows is going on on a great scale in northern 

 Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa — the northern States 

 making more cheese than the others. It is stated that one hun- 

 dred and fifty cheese and butter factories have been erected in 

 Iowa during 1881, making a total of over five hundred in that 

 State, and many more will be added next spring. Like the dragon's 



