53 AGRICULTURE IN THE EASTERN AND MIDDLE STATES. 



&quot;Duchess of Geneva brought the sum of $30,000, shows the 

 high estimate placed upon Short-horns. 



The present condition of agriculture in the Empire State is 

 most flattering. Her scientists have diffused so much informa 

 tion respecting the laws of forestry, that the State is moving 

 with unanimity to preserve a large part of the Adirondack 

 mountain region, the forest feeder of her noble rivers, from 

 further devastation. The preservation of natural pasturage will 

 follow. 



Among other recent industries, fish culture and fur culture 

 deserve attention; the one for its novelty, the other for its im 

 mense importance. Trout raising has been made as certain 

 and profitable as that of chickens and turkeys. The fur bearing 

 animals have retired before civilization to such an extent that 

 their extermination has been looked upon as probable. In 

 1867, Mr. Rassigue, of Oneida County, New York, commenced 

 the rearing of minks, which can be done anywhere, all that is 

 needed being a constantly flowing spring, and a small plot of 

 ground. They breed rapidly, are subject to no diseases, and 

 are worth from five to eight dollars a head, when grown. 



The development of the dairying interest in the United 

 States would require a volume for its full explanation. Mr. 

 X. A. Willard, to whom it owes so much, stated, little more 

 than a year ago, that American dairying represents a capital of 

 more than $1,000,000,000. 



The cheese product in 1872 sold for $30,000,000, and the 

 butter product for $200,000,000. 



Nine years ago, the first cheese factory was established in 

 Oswego county; now, there are fifty. In one town are five 

 factories, which work the milk of 2,200 cows. One of them 

 made over 200,000 pounds of cheese. The number of cows in 

 the county has increased from 10,000 to 30,000, under the 

 stimulus of cooperation and association; each cow represent 

 ing in herself, including land for keeping, factories, implements, 

 and fixtures for marketing, a capital of $300, making a total in 

 vestment of $9,000,000 in the dairy agriculture of the county. 

 The average product of cheese per cow does not exceed 350 

 pounds in a season. Many dairies make an average of fifty 

 pounds of butter per cow, also. Two hundred pounds of butter 

 per cow is considered a good yield for butter dairies. Mr. L. 

 D. Arnold, before the New York Dairymen s Association, thus 

 states his views upon the future of dairy husbandry : 



