58 



Nesbith spoke of the difficulties of trade and 

 the pressure of the money market. He was un- 

 decided and not exactly prepared to purchase, 

 though sometimes in exceptionable cases he 

 was prevailed upon to buy small lots at low fig- 

 ures. By the time he got through his visitation 

 the dairymen were feeling somewhat discour- 

 aged and were ardently hoping to see some other 

 buyer. Then the festive Ferris made his appear- 

 ance, and his off-hand rushing way of doing bu- 

 siness, carried the conviction that he was a reck- 

 less operator. His prices were considerably 

 higher than those offered by Nesbith, and the 

 dairymen fell into the trap and sold their goods, 

 wondering if the buyer was thoroughly posted 

 in regard to the markets. 



In 1826 Henry Burrell. of Herkimer county, 

 then a young man full of enterprise and cour- 

 age, having learned something of the markets 

 and the game played by Nesbith and Ferris, 

 "stole a march" on these skillful operators, 

 buying a large share of the cheese at a price 

 above that fiarured by the Massachusetts firm. 

 He afterwards bpoame the chief denier in dairy 

 goods in central New York, often purchasing the 

 entire product of cheese made in the United 

 States. He was the first, to open a cheese trade 

 with England, commencing shipping as a ven- 

 ture, about 1880 to 1832 at the suggestion of the 

 late Erastus Corning of Albany. The first ship- 

 ment was about 10,000 pounds. 



He was the first also to send cheese to Phila- 

 delphia, shipping to B. & B. Cooper in 1828 and to 

 Jonathan Palmer in 1830 and 1833. Mr. Burrell 

 is still in the trade, though nearly eighty years 

 of age, and has shipped cheese abroad every 

 year during the past fifty years, his shipments 

 the present summer (1876) being about 1,000 

 boxes a week. He is among the few American 

 dealers who have amassed a colossal fortune in 

 the trade, and by his strict integrity and honest 

 dealinif has ever retained the confidence of 

 dairymen. 



In tracing the history of cheese dairying in 

 other states, I find the emigration of Herkimer 

 county dairymen often gave these new localities 

 the first impetus to this branch of industry 

 thus leading the way more easily to the intro- 

 duction of the factory system. 



Crossing the line into Canada, we find Harvey 

 Farrington, an old Herkimer county dairyman, 

 in 1864-5, leading the way by building the first 

 factories in the Province of Ontario, and teach- 

 ing the art of manufacture to our Canadian 

 neighbors. Previous to this, the Canadians 

 bought largely from the states. Now they pro- 

 duce from thirty to forty millions of pounds an- 

 nually, and are our sharpest competitors in the 

 export trade. 



PROGRESS OF THE EXPORT TRADE. 



In about 1848-9, or about eighteen years from 

 the first shipment of cheese to Great Britain, our 

 exports had increased to 15.000,000 pounds. The 

 whole production of cheese that year in the 

 United States was not far from 100,000,000 

 pounds, about 43,000,000 of which was received 

 at the tide water* of the Hudson. British ship- 

 pers that year (1848-9) were enthusiastic ; draw- 

 ing upon us for what was then considered an 

 extraordinary quantity, viz: 15,000.000 pounds, 

 but they met with severe losses, which caused a 

 more moderate demand the following year, and 

 prices tell about one cent per pound, varying 

 for fair to strictly prime, from 5c to 6&C for Ohio 

 cheese, and 6c to 6% tor New York State. The 

 amount exported that year (1849-50) was 12,000,000 

 pounds, the supply tothe tide waters of the Hud- 

 son being about 42,000,000 pounds. Five-sixths 

 of the exports were bought and shipped by the 

 middle of January, and the remainder, say 2,000,- 

 000 pounds, was .bought by two or three parties 

 at 5?c to 6&C, which was generally thought by 

 the trade to be too dear. 



In 1851 the whole consumption of foreign 

 cheese in England, including that from America, 

 had Increased to 48.000,000 pounds, an increase 

 amounting to about 250 per cent, since 1831. 



From 1848 to 1858 the exports of American 

 cheese to England were not increased and they 

 fell back in 1858 to 5,000,000 pounds ; but about 

 this time American butter began be be exported 

 in considerable quantities. In 1859 there were 

 about two and one-half million pounds of butter 

 and 9,000,000 pounds of cheese exported. Dur- 

 ing the following year the butter export was 11,- 

 000,000 pounds. There was no increase in the 

 make of American cheese during the ten years 

 from 1850 to I860, the census reports giving the 

 amount in 1850 at 105,000,000 against 103,000,000 in 

 1860. 



The quality of the great mass of butter and 

 cheese during this decade was undoubtedly in- 

 ferior as, a rule. 



The principles underlying the great art of 

 manufacturing these products were very im- 

 perfectly understood. In 1860 Samuel Perry of 

 New York attempted to control the entire export 

 product of American dairies. He sent his agents 

 early in the season, throughout the whole dairy 

 section of New York and Ohio, then the only 

 two states from which cheese was exported, and 

 they contracted for him the bulk of the farm 

 dairies at an average price of from 8c to lOc per 

 pound. 



A large share of the cheese in those days was 

 bought on credit, a small sum being paid during 

 summer, but the final settlement and paympnt 

 was made on the first of January, Mr. Perry 

 by offering a penny or so per pound, more than 

 other dealers believed tne market would war- 

 rant, was enabled to secure almost the entire 

 make of the season. 



A great disaster as is well known followed 

 this purchase. Much of the cheese was badly 

 made and it rotted on his hands and was 

 thrown into the docks. Sales, could not be 

 made in England to cover cost. The approach- 

 ing war caused troublous times and cutoff our 

 Southern trade. Financial difficulties at the 

 opening of 1861 were frequent and pressing and 

 the great merchants went to the wall leaving 

 thousands of dairymen unpaid. The lesson was 

 a severe one to all concerned, but, it was use- 

 ful in this, that ever after dairymen have 

 been cautious in selling on long credits, while 

 no one dealer, single handed, has since that 

 time attempted to control a product which from 

 its increased magnitude is beyond the grasp 

 of our means and resources. 



Although Mr. Jesse Williams of Rome, N. Y., 

 had conceived the idea of the tactory system, 

 and put it in operation in 1857, it did not begiu 

 to attract attention until about 1860. Up to 

 this date (1860) only 23 factories had been erect- 

 ed, but as the factory cheese was generally bet- 

 ter made, and more uniform in shape, texture 

 and quality, and as less labor resulted in mak- 

 ing as well as in buying 1 ( because cheese was 

 then bought on the shelves on personal inspec- 

 tion,) the system began to be regarded with 

 favor by both dealers and farmers. 



Mr. Williams learned the art of cheese dairy- 

 ing in Herkimer. He was an original thinker, 

 and to him are we indebted more than to any 

 other, for the great progressive step which 

 places American dairying to-day in the front 

 rank among the nations of the earth. The 

 whole frame work of the American system 

 sprung from his brain in one harmonious whole 

 and although, he was fruitful in the invention 

 of implements and appliances adapted to his 

 work, he took out no patents, but presented tne 

 result of his labors as a gratuity to the world. 

 The inestimable benefits that have come, and 

 >etto come from the original labors of Mr, 

 Williams can scarcely be estimated, It put 

 American dairying upon a footing by which it 



