246 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



teeth sown by Cadmus, tliey spring up armed and equipped for 

 battle, and they increase and spread as rapidly as the Western 

 prairie fire. 



Even the staid Dutchmen of Pennsylvania and New York have 

 caught the fever. In the fall of 1879 a creamery was built in 

 Quakertown, Pa., on the North Pennsylvania Eailroad, about 

 sixty miles from Philadelphia. In January, 1880, a statement 

 was printed claiming a return of 5.35 cents per quart for milk on 

 that one day. During that spring I visited Quakertown to see 

 how such profits were realized, and found the whole country-side 

 in excitement. " Why," said an old farmer to me, "one year ago 

 we would have laughed at the idea of building one creamery, and 

 now forty are going up.'' On the 15th of September, 1881, so 

 many creameries were in operation, mostly in the above section, 

 that they met and established a Board of Trade in Philadeliohia. 



It is estimated that more than six thousand factories are now in 

 operation over the northern United States and Canada. It is 

 moderate to say that the milk of 300 cows is sent to each, making 

 a total of 1.800,000, or 2,000,000 cows contributing to these 

 factories. Probably 2,500,000 would be nearer the truth. 



As a necessary consequence of this great movement in manu- 

 facturing, has come the establishment of a Board of Trade in 

 central points for the purpose of marketing. These have proved 

 to be of the greatest benefit both to the seller and the buyer. 

 The purchaser has no longer to run around to find what goods are 

 for sale, and the salesman need no longer be the victim of unre- 

 ported changes in the market. Then, too, the maker is by com- 

 parison with the goods of his neighbors and by the prices they 

 bring, stimulated to do better himself. The sales at the Boards 

 of Trade on stated days furnish the basis of prices for their 

 respective sections of country, and are widely announced by 

 telegraph. 



The Dairymen's Associations through their meetings and 

 printed reports during the past ten years, have exercised a wide 

 and important influence. They have engaged the best talent in 

 the country in their service, and their reports are a mine Ckf infor- 

 mation on almost every topic. The earlier reports were much 

 taken up with cheese making — later, butter making and the treat- 

 ment of milk has assumed more prominence. The subjects in the 

 15th Annual Report of the American Dairymen's Association for 

 1880, are as follows : 



