You will say that, we have been improving the 

 character of American cheese for the last ten 

 years or more, or that it never suited the Ens:- 

 lish market so well as now. I trrant it, but it is 

 because we have come nearer and nearer the 

 true chedder method which was first made 

 known to our dairymen at their convention in 

 1865. I do not now refer to appliances for abridg- 

 ing labor then of course an original American 

 invention, but I have yet to be shown a simrle 

 original scientific principle that has been discov- 

 ered and adopted by which our cheese manufac- 

 ture has been improved above the old chedder 

 method. 



The lesson which our dairymen are learning 

 to-day is that, there is a difference between 

 speculative theories and sound practice. We 

 have learned the reason for many dairy opera- 

 tions and these have been so well expounded 

 from time to time that our cheese makers have 

 become better grounded in the science of the 

 dairy, and are more intelligent than the great 

 mass of practical dairymen in Europe. 



But there are some things, concerning the 

 care and preservation of milk that may be 

 placed to our credit. The cooling and aeration 

 of milk for its better flavor and condition is ours. 

 Mr. Foster, of Oueida, N. Y., was the first to 

 discover that the odor of putrifying animal 

 matter like that of a dead horse may taint the 

 milk in the bag by being breathed by the cow 

 while at pasture. The microscopical investiga- 

 tions of Prof. Law, of Cornell, were the first to 

 show how vegetable organisms may be trans- 

 mitted to the milk from the water which 

 oows drink to slake thirst. Mr. Truman, 

 of Chenango county, was the first to dis- 

 cover that other fat than that obtained 

 from the milk may be substituted for it 

 in cheese. The late Gail Borden, of White Plains, 

 N. Y., was the first to show how milk may be 

 successfully eliminated of its water or condens- 

 ed. He was an original thinker and investiga- 

 tor, whose name next to Jesse Williams will go 

 down to posterity as the inventor ol the grand- 

 est improvements in connection with the dairy 

 known in any age of the world. The preserva- 

 tion of milk in all its integrity for Ions? periods, 

 before Mr. Borden's time, had been attempted, 

 but without success, and eminent chemists and 

 scientists had pronounced the condensing of 

 milk with its cream unseparated an impossibil- 

 ity. Mr. Borden persevered inventing elabor- 

 ate and complicated machinery entirely original 

 for the purpose, and at last his efforts were 

 crowned with success. Thousands of our sol- 

 diers during the Rebellion thousand*, upon 

 shipboard in cities and upon the plains, have 

 called down blessings upon this man tor the ben- 

 efaction ot securing to them the luxury of pure 

 milk milk which could not otherwise be had. 

 If the Jives of children saved in our cities by the 

 use of Borden's condensed milk be taken into 

 account, we shall scarcely be able to estimate 

 the value of his labors. His inventions and pro- 

 cesses have been carried into Europe, and he is 

 recognized in history to-day as one who has 

 dune an important servico for humanity. 



Mr. Slaughter, of Orange County, was the 

 first to adopt the associated system of butter 

 making, and to apply the deep setting of milk in 

 coid water for getting the cream. This was an 

 important step toward progress. The Swedes 

 and Danes were the first among European na- 

 tions to cpy the American idea of butter fac- 

 tories and the 8"tting of milk in cokl water ; but 

 Sweden with her scientists under Royal patron- 

 age was not content simply to copy, and to Swe- 

 den belongs the credit of first demonstrating 

 that cream will rise rapidly and perfectly when 

 the milk is reduced to near the freezing point iu 

 ice water. 



This principle has been a surprise to the butter 



dairymen of America, and is another step in the 

 progress of butter dairying. 



Mr. Harrlin. of Kentucky, is entitled to credit 

 for a modification of this system in which 

 the air is cooled in refrigerator boxes which are 

 used for setting the milk, and he claims as an 

 improvement the covering of the milk and the 

 exclusion of the air while the cream is rising. 

 There can be no doubt but the cold theory is 

 the true one for making butter. It arrests de- 

 composition from the start, and the fine quality 

 of butter made by t his plan is proof of its merit. 



The heating of milk and then cooling it, to ob- 

 tain the cream together with the manufacture 

 of the skimmed milk into cheese is of ancient 

 origin. It bad been practiced in Devonshire, 

 England, for more than a century, and hence no 

 claim can be made of its being an American 

 idea. The English experimentors years ago 

 pronounced it inferior to other methods then in 

 common use both as to quantity and quality of 

 product. 



In closing the claims of American inventors, I 

 must add two more names to the list, that of Dr. 

 Sturtevant, of Massachusetts, who has made 

 some original investigations in regard to the 

 milk globules of cows of different breeds, while 

 Dr. H. A. Mott, of New York City, has recently 

 made some very interesting discoveries in com- 

 paring the milk of different races. His analyses 

 show that the milk of the Black race contains 

 more milk solids than that of the Caucassian, 

 particularly in milk, sugar, fat and inorganic 

 salts. The same rule also applies to Brunettes, 

 and it becomes an interesting question whether 

 the color of animals is any indication as to the 

 quality of milk yielded. 



CONCLUSION. 



In conclusion a word may be offered in regard 

 to the present status of American dairying. Com- 

 missioner Wells in his celebrated report upon the 

 " Industry, Trade and Commerce of the United 

 States" for 1869, puts the value of the products 

 from the dairy in the United States at $400,000,- 

 000 per annum. If that be correct for 1869, the 

 annual product from dairy farms to-day must be 

 at least. $600,000,000. The New York Butter and 

 Cheese Exchange estimates the annual butter 

 crop at 1,400.000,000 pounds, which at 30 cents per 

 pou <d would alone amount to $430,000,000. In 

 my opinion the Butter and Cheese Exchange has 

 estimated the butter product too high, but it 

 must not be far from 700,000,000 pounds per an- 

 num. But when I say that the actual product 

 from the dairy farms of the United States 

 amounts to $600,000,000, it may not strike you 

 with its full force. This amount will be better 

 appreciated perhaps by a comparison. In 1860 

 the total industrial product arising from agri- 

 culture in the United States was estimated at 

 about $1,800,000,000; so that the dairy farms of the 

 United States to-day produce a sum equal to 

 one-third of the value of the entire production 

 of agriculture in all its branches in 1860. It must 

 be evident therefore that the dairy is second in 

 importance to no special agricultural industry 

 of the nation. 



The associated dairy system now stretches in 

 an almost unbroken line from the Atlantic to 

 the Pacific, commencing in Maine it sweeps over 

 New England, then throughout the Middle States 

 it is the most important industry. Its foot is 

 firmly planted in the West and Northwest. 

 Crossing the Mississippi, it has pushed its way 

 into Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska ; even at 

 North Platte, on the very verge of the rainless 

 region, I last year found a prosperous cheese 

 factorv and large herds, owned by the accom- 

 plished widow of the late Post Master General 

 Randall, associated with Hon. Mr. Webster and 

 his son. Along the base of the Rocky Mountains 

 and in the canyons and parks of that wouderiul 

 region, 1 have been surprised to find numerous 



