390 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



In the column for 1885 are included the total quantity and 

 value of milk at the price of new milk, the total quantity and 

 value of cream sold or used as cream, and the total quantity 

 and value of butter and cheese made on farms. 



The number and value of the animals associated with the 

 dairy industry is important in this connection ; and it is 

 found that the census of 1885 gives the number of milch 

 cows on farms as 162,847, valued at $6,156,130; and the 

 number of other bovine animals as 99,339, valued at $2,331,- 

 852 ; or a total of 262,186 animals, valued at $8,487,982. 



In the aggregates of polls, property, taxes, etc., as 

 assessed May 1, 1885, the number of cows is given as 167,- 

 817, and the number of neat cattle other than cows as 57,044, 

 or a total of 224,861 ; while the number as assessed May 1, 

 1889, is found to be 192,307 cows and 63,884 neat cattle 

 other than cows, or a total of 256,191. 



According to the census of 1885, the value of the manure 

 made on farms is given as $3,090,189^ and it is estimated 

 that not less than $2,000,000 of this amount can be credited 

 to the dairy industry. Also, the production of pork is given 

 as 16,546,752 pounds, valued at $1,0(53,180 ; and the making 

 of this pork to a large extent depends upon the use of the 

 so-called wastes of the dairy. 



From the table it would appear that from 1875 to 1885 

 cheese fell off apparently nearly three-fourths as regards 

 quantity. This is a tact, no doubt, as regards the farm ; 

 but the statistics of manufactures, under which heading 

 cheese is now returned as a food preparation, show that this 

 decrease in quantity is due largely to a change rather from 

 agriculture to manufactures. In the volume on manufact- 

 ures we find credited under food preparations 613,087 

 pounds of cheese, valued at $65,491 ; which, added to the 

 amount reported as made on farms, swells the aggregate to 

 972,211 pounds, valued at $99,478. 



In Massachusetts the first cheese factory went into opera- 

 tion in April, 1864. Under a call signed by Dwight Ellis 

 of Warren and a few others, a meeting was held in West 

 Brookfield, Feb. 1, 1866, at which the Massachusetts Cheese 

 Manufacturers' Association was formed. At this meeting 

 four factories reported having made an aggregate of 364,178 



