THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



549 



AMERICAN CHEESE AND BUTTER. 



There can be little doubt that before many years are over, 

 the dairy produce of the United States and Canada will be 

 received in enormous quantities in the English markets. 

 Taken as a whole, no country presents greater facilities 

 for dairy farming, and no country has so large a proportion 

 of its population engaged in agriculture. As a consequence, 

 no country should have a larger surplus of dairy products 

 for exportation, and if hitherto the surplus has been trifling, 

 it must be owing to transient causes. There must be diffi- 

 culties which are inseparable from what may be termed the 

 infancy of the newer States, and when overcome, these 

 States, which practically give no attention to dairy farming 

 will do so, and add their contribution to the supply of cheese 

 and butter. Two prominent difficulties may be named. First 

 it is desirable to get as much laud as possible into cultivation' 

 and the settlers' means being limited, the one object neces- 

 sarily engages his attention, He does with as few stock as 

 possible, and what milk his cows yield (should he have any) 

 is consumed in his family or sent to the nearest town or 

 village. The second difficulty arises from the prevailing 

 ignorance among American settlers, as to the way in which 

 cheese and butter should be made. Much as the agricultu- 

 ral shows have done in the way of example, and in disse- 

 minating information, it is scarcely credible how much 

 remains undone. The straggling class of farmers, who are 

 by far the most numerous, and to whom farming is a new 

 occupation, take little or no interest in the shows, and the 

 little cheese and butter which they make is so inferior as 

 to be only saleable at a x^rice that barely yields a profit' 

 Under these difficulties the newer States, no matter what 

 their facilities may be for dau'y farming, have hitherto 

 produced less cheese and butter than they have con- 

 sumed. Instead of contributing to the general stock, they 

 have diminished it, and Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, and 

 Iowa have bought freely of the dairy produce of Ohio, New 

 Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. The indifferent and 

 deficient cheese and butter of Canada have been sent into 

 the United States, or exported to the United Kingdom, while 

 Canadian wants have been supplied from the abundance and 

 prime qualities of New York. 



This practice, necessary though it may have been, and still 

 to some extent maybe, has proved injurious to an enter- 

 prising and numerous class of farmers. Western and Cana- 

 dian cheese and butter once said to be inferior and all but 

 worthless, the bad name has adhered to them, and really 

 good lots have, as a rule, gone with the really bad, command" 

 ing no better price. No inducement may be said, therefore) 

 to have existed for improved dairy farming, and a custom 

 in the Canadian butter trade will serve as an illustration of 

 how the matter stands. Canadian butter, it is scarcely ne- 

 cessai7 to say, is made in the summer season, the farmer 

 providing himself with a supply of firkins, into which he 

 places the butter as it is made, spreading a little salt between 

 the different makings. As soon as a few firkins have been 

 filled, they are sent to the dry goods shop, or some other 

 shop, at which the farmer supplies his domestic wants, and 

 the net weight is passed to the credit of of the account, at gene- 

 rally the munificient price of sixpence a pound. At thi < price 

 the shopkeeper can scarcely lose ; and should butter become 

 scarce he has the chance of realizing a good profit. Nothing 

 is, however, to be made by the selling of a firkin or two, 



and lot after lot is accumulated in the shopkeeper's cellar, 

 until, probably, a few hundred Ibkins are in hand. This, 

 be it observed, is done during the summer, when the tem- 

 perature is high, and when the least exposure reduces the 

 butter to an all but fluid state ; and unless salt has been 

 used too freely the butter when it comes to be looked at in 

 the winter, in a frozen state, is sour or rancid. Thus im- 

 proved dairy farming has been repressed by a mere custom 

 in the trade, which originated when the quality of the butter 

 was bad, and when the quantity produced was small, The 

 maker of good butter was placed upon the same level as 

 the maker of bad butter, and butter that was really good 

 was spoiled by neglect, when it left the farmer's hands, and 

 before it was placed upon the market, 



It is B&tigfactoiy to observe, that this untoward state of 

 things is being changed, and that American dairy produce is in 

 a fair way of gettiug rid of the bad name that has been so long 

 attached to it. Within the paat few years a class of men pos- 

 sessed of ample means, and to whom the making of cheese 

 and butter is familiar, have found their way to Canada and 

 the United States. These men, availing themselves of the 

 facilities that now exist for sending what they have to market 

 have declined the services of the drapers and grocers and 

 others, and sent their cheese and butter to New York, and 

 Boston, and elsewhere direct by railway. Need the result be 

 told ? Well prepared Western and Canadian butter now com. 

 mands the highest market price ; and dairy farming has re. 

 ceived in the course of the present season an extension which 

 is scarcely credible. Milk has ceased to be bestowed upon 

 the hogs, or to be wasted in the household ; and milch cows 

 are everywhere in great request. In short, dairy farming, 

 which hitherto has been neglected on the American continent, 

 is at length found to be highly profitable, and is being prose- 

 cuted iu a way that will be felt before long in England. No 

 better proof of this can be afforded than by a comparison of 

 the statements of exports from the United States and Canada, 



EXPORTS OF BUTTER FROM THE UNITED STATES 

 TO GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



1858. Tons. 



September 10 



October 71 



November — 



December — 



1859. 



January — 



February — 



March 23 



April 30 



May — 



June 88 



July 76 



August 7 



From Sept. 1, 1858, 

 to Sept. 1, 1859. . 307 



1859. Tons. 



September 10 



October 10 



November ..,...,. 1 



December 1 



I860. 



January 23 



February , 125 



March 278 



April 125 



May 222 



June 495 



July 437 



August 414 



From Sept. 1,1859, 

 to Sept. 1, 1860. 2,141 



EXPORTS OP CHEESE PROM THE UNITED STATES 

 TO GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



1858. Tons. 



September 296 



October,.., 555 



November.. 257 



December ,,,,,,,. 287 



1859. Tons. 



September 722 



October 729 



November 650 



Pecember ,,,,..., 684 



