322 



American Cheese Trade. 



Vol. XII. 



ther the proportion of food named be suffici- 

 ently rich or not, and can easily add or di- 

 minish the proper quantity. 



7. There can be no animal so stupid about 

 its food as the calf; it must therefore be 

 taught from its earliest infancy. For this 

 purpose, in teaching them to take their food 

 when mixed with the linseed meal, &c., we 

 generally begin by giving a small handful of 

 oatmeal, and placing within their reach some 

 good hay, or, if the season will afford it, some 

 green food. 



8. When the calves are twelve weeks old, 

 the milk is entirely taken from them, and 

 they receive in its place rye meal or crushed 

 peas, made into pulp with water, and then 

 thinned; the daily ration being increased 

 until the end of the second quarter from 14^ 

 to 20 quarts. 



9. When the calves are h^lf a year old, 

 the drinking food is gradually lessened and 

 thinned — the quantity being regulated by the 

 natural thirst of the animals, as it gradually 

 takes on to more substantial food. — Farmers'' 

 Library. 



American Cheese Trade. 



The cheese trade is rapidly augmenting 

 in this country. The foreign exports of it 

 have become a prominent article of supply 

 for distant climes. Up to 1840 there was 

 but a small quantity shipped, and that prin- 

 cipally on foreign account. That year Messrs. 

 Goodrich & Co., of New York, and the Messrs. 

 Green, of Boston, made the experiment of 

 large consignments to England. Of course, 

 they met with the usual prejudices, the mar- 

 ket before having been furnished with for- 

 eign cheese from Ireland and Holland. By 

 perseverance the American article gradually 

 came into favour, until it has now reached a 

 heavy consumption. It fills part of the car- 

 go of almost every vessel that leaves our 

 seaports for Liverpool. The statistics of ex- 

 port, as will be seen by the following, be- 

 token a still further extension, which is wor- 

 thy the attention of the farmers of this State: 



1840 lbs. 7-23,7 13 I 18-13 Ihs. 3,440,144 



1841 1,748,7H1 1844 7,433,145 



1842 2,456,077 | 1845 7,941 ,187 



1846 8,675,390 



This foreign export trade has now reached 

 over a million of dollars annually. It goes 

 to fifty-two countries. Our heaviest custom- 

 ers in 1846 were — 



England, lbs. C,744,t)09 

 West Indies 807,040 



f;uba 227,276 



Canatlas 185,915 



Havti, lbs. 150,046 



Kritish Guiana, 162,420 



Scotland, 88,041 



Venezuela, 40,812 



Until within five years, cheese has usually 

 been kept on sale in our eastern cities by 

 grocers and produce dealers, with a general 



assortment of other products. A total revo- 

 lution in this reject has taken place. In 

 New York and Boston, extensive houses, ex- 

 clusively for cheese, are doing a large busi- 

 ness. [Several commission houses are now 

 solely engaged in it. 



The farmers of our State seem to have 

 neglected this important branch of the dairy. 

 Every other saleable product is produced here 

 in abundance; why not add this to our list 

 of exports! We certainly possess the graz- 

 ing land. Still we do not make 20 per cent, 

 of the cheese consumed in the State. Daily 

 it is shipped here from Buffalo, and goes into 

 the interior of this State. Ohio also sends 

 her hundreds of tons to our markets. Nei- 

 ther Western New York nor Ohio possesses 

 more advantages for its manufacture than 

 our own farmers. We are told that at the 

 prices it has borne for the last five years, it 

 is much more profitable than butter. In fact, 

 for three months in the year, butter does not 

 sell at any higher price. All dairy-women 

 agree that two pounds of cheese are made 

 easier tlian one pound of butter. Yet it is 

 neglected. 



In several towns near Buffalo, (Hamburgh 

 and Collins,) it is the principal busine.ss of 

 the farmers, and all who have embarked in 

 it have greatly added to their wealth. Chau- 

 tauque county farmers have increased their 

 cows for cheese-making ; Herkimer county, 

 N. Y., produced 8,000,000 lbs. in 1845, ac- 

 cording to the State census; St. Lawrence 

 9,000,000 lbs. In Allegany county, hereto- 

 fore, lumber was the principal production; 

 nearly every farmer now turns out his five 

 to twenty casks of cheese in the fall. All 

 the southern tier of counties in that State 

 are largely embarking in it. The census of 

 1835 gives the quantity made in the State 

 at 36,000,000 lbs. Ohio has doubled her ex- 

 ports of it within five years. Indiana cheese 

 is now becoming known in the market. 



As a sample of its increase, we give the 

 following statistics of the amount that ar- 

 rived at tide-water on the Hudson river, from 

 the Canal Collector's books: 



