263] THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTER 39 



and rather rapidly in the succeeding decade; but between 

 1890 and 1900 the increase was very small, and between 

 1900 and 19 10 there was a decrease. The factory product 

 shows a rapid increase between 1880 and 1890. During 

 this decade the power separator became popular. From 

 1890 to 1900 there was also a large increase, which was 

 probably due to the general introduction of the hand sep- 

 arator in connection with the rapid expansion of railroad 

 transportation that had been going on during the previous 

 decade. The railroad mileage of the country grew from 

 93,296 miles in 1880 to 163,597 in 1890. The greater por- 

 tion of this unprecedented construction was carried on in 

 the Central and Western States, where agriculture and 

 mining were being developed. 1 The butter product of the 

 factory in 1905 and 1910 shows a steady gain. With 

 transportation facilities developing and the division of farm 

 land into medium-sized units in progress, it may be ex- 

 pected that the factory product will continue to grow. The 

 superior quality of the factory product over the farm 

 product will eventually force dairy butter entirely out of 

 the city market. In the consumption of butter on the farm 

 the substitution of creamery butter for dairy butter will 

 probably be somewhat less rapid than it has been in the 

 city. The rate of growth of the factory product in succeed- 

 ing decades may therefore be expected to be relatively 

 slower than it has been during the early decades of the 

 factory system. 



As previously stated, the production of cheese in Amer- 

 ica has been almost wholly transferred to the factory. It 

 is interesting to inquire why the change from the domestic 

 system to the factory system in the manufacture of butter 

 has been much slower. It would seem that there are two 



1 Vide, E. L. Bogart, Economic History of the United States, p. 317. 



