458 



ten sbilliDgs per acre for liis whole farm. Their fanctioa is to quicken 

 the exhausted forces of vegetation, but their influence is transient and 

 not to be compared with home-manures in permanence. During the 

 last ten years Mr. Mechi has consumed cake, corn, malt-culms, bran, 

 hay, linseed, and Beach's condimental food at a cost averaging sixty- 

 six shillings, or over $16 per acre in gold at market-prices, besides 

 expense of veterinary and»griuding, and yet his balance-sheets show 

 large profits. He has but 6 acres in permanent pasture; 18 acres in 

 clover t5 be mown for hay ; 4 acres in winter-tares ; 12 acres in Italian 

 rye-grass ; 6 acres in kohlrabi and cabbage ; G acres in mangel, and 6 

 acres in white turnips after pease. The first cutting of clover and 

 pasture and part of the rye-grass is made into hay. Six horses consume 

 a portion of the tares, the second growth of clover, and two acres of 

 mangel, besides a considerable portion of the rye-grass, so that the 

 actual area devoted to other farm-animals av^erages somewhat less than 

 25 acres. The manure produced by feeding the root-crops of these 

 25 acres to animals under cover, besides £.")77 per annum in purchased 

 food, aided by the horse-manure, house-slops, &c., makes great crops 

 from the whole farm of 175 acres. The small acreage in green and 

 root crops is made to go a great way by the shelter afibrded the animal, 

 which greatly lessens the draught upon its vital energies and requires a 

 smaller amount of food in order to be kept in good condition. 



OuE, CHEESE INTEKEST. — The associated effort of American dairy- 

 men to elevate the character of their industry has met with marked 

 success. This effort has been directed, first, to improvements in pro- 

 duction, and, secondly, to increased facilities for marketing. The high 

 quality of the product and its popularity in foreign markets shows the 

 success of the first point in the enterprise. The marketing of American 

 cheese has been reduced to a regular system. In New York, before the 

 war, a dealer would contract for a season's manufacture upon terms which 

 would allow him a specially wide margin. Payment for a spring's work 

 was delayed till the following January. Subsequently buyers itinerated 

 from factory to factory and made purchases in lots. The producers not 

 being posted in regard to prices, mostly dis[)osed of their product at a 

 lower figure than they should have demanded, leaving a considerable 

 margin for speculation on the part of the buyers. Subsequently regular 

 market days were appointed at accessible points where salesmen from 

 the country congregated and made the best bargains they could in the 

 absence of regular market-reports from New York, London, and Liver- 

 ])ool. In 1871 boards of trade were established at Utica and Little 

 Falls, New York. Under the regulations established by these bodies 

 the trade of Central New York is now carried on. 



Little Falls, in Herkimer County, New York, is the oldest cheese mar- 

 ket in the United States. Formerly cheese was brought in wagons on 

 market-days, and the streets were crowded with wagons the contents of 

 which were i)iled high upon the railway platforms. Buyers inspected 

 each separate lot and bargained closely with the farmers. The factory 

 system has changed all this. Samples of cheese are now exhibited by 

 only a few "private dairies." Factory cheese is fully known on the 

 market by the brand of each establishment. New York dealers now 

 arrive on the market at 1 o'clock p. m. on market-days, and find the 

 town tilled with salesmen of diff"erent factories, and contracts are speedily 

 closed. New factories whose brand is not yet familiar to market men 

 present small "plugs" of cheese carried in vials. Buyers' orders specify 

 a particular brand, and frequently several orders for the same brand 



