28 NUMBER OF CREAMERIES 



Table 1 shows the annual production of butter and cheese, 

 by decades from 1870 to 1910, in the several divisions of the 

 country, as compared with the population, dairy cows and im- 

 proved acres of land. It emphasizes the fact that the butter 

 industry is by far the most important branch of the manufacture 

 of dairy products in America. Its annual output is about 5 

 times greater than the output of cheese and its value nearly 10 

 times the value of the annual cheese output as based on the rela- 

 tive butter and cheese prices in normal times. 



It is further interesting to note that while the increase in 

 annual butter production in the United States from 1870 to 

 1910, amounted to over 300 per cent, the increase in the annual 

 cheese production for the same period was less than 200 per 

 cent, and the increase in population, number of dairy cows and 

 acres of improved land was approximately 238, 231 and 253 per 

 cent, respectively. 



During the last decade or more, the center of the butter 

 industry has shown a distinct and continuous movement west- 

 ward. In the New England and Middle Atlantic States it has 

 gradually declined, while in the central, northern, western and 

 southern states it has increased rapidly. This decline in the 

 East has been due largely to the wide-spread tendency of the 

 energetic eastern farmer to migrate westward in pursuit of 

 greater opportunities, with the resulting decline of the acres of 

 improved land in the East; the rapid increase in the demand 

 for market milk by the growth of the population in the Eastern 

 industrial and trade centers, thus absorbing a large proportion 

 of the raw material, milk and cream, that formerly was made 

 into butter; and the difference in cost of production and manu- 

 facture in favor of the western farmer and creamery who can 

 lay down in New England his more staple dairy products, such 

 as butter and cheese, at lower prices than the New England 

 dairyman can produce them. 



Number of Creameries in the United States. 

 According to statistics furnished by the United States 

 Dairy Division there were in operation in the year 1914 5,463 

 creameries in the United States. These creameries are dis- 

 tributed over the several states as shown in Table 2. 



