DAIRY PRODUCTS. 197 



and will sell in the market for a handsome percentage over the 

 small cheese of the household dairy ; so that in the opinion of 

 your Committee our small farmers are particularly interested to 

 connect themselves with the factory ; as in that case the milk of 

 their few cows is as valuable in proportion as the milk from the 

 largest dairies, to say nothing of transferring the labor of cheese- 

 making from the farm-house to the factory, where it will event- 

 ually be done at a much less cost than in the individual dairy 

 rooms, thus relieving our mothers, wives and daughters from a 

 task that at the present day they are so unable to perform, or 

 saving the cost of female labor, which is not only very expensive, 

 but often very vexatious. 



Cheese, in the opinion of your Committee, is the most impor- 

 tant agricultural article that can be produced in this part of the 

 country. We can, as it seems to us, have no other great staple. 

 It becomes more apparent every day that beef, pork, wool, hops 

 and all breadstufifs and grains can be sent to market from other 

 sections of the country, at much lower prices than can be 

 afforded in this vicinity. The towns included in the " j-irisdic- 

 tion " of this society, so to speak, are best adapted to the pro- 

 duction of hay and grass, and these it has been abundantly 

 proved, can be made into milk at a better profit than into any- 

 thing else. And besides, it may be said truly that we have a 

 reputation for the production of cheese in this vicinity that has 

 been of value to our farmers in the past, and ought not to be 

 lost in the future. This reputation is founded, as we believe, 

 not only upon the perfection of its manufacture, but the material 

 out of which it is made, the grass grown upon our hillsides, 

 which partakes so largely of the white clover, produces a white- 

 ness of milk and cream that manifests itself in the product of 

 our dairies, whether in butter or cheese. 



This, then, should be our specialty, in this part of the coun- 

 try, and all should co-operate to increase the quantity and im- 

 prove the quality of this important article. 



We have already said that the quality of our cheese has been 

 greatly improved through the influence of this society, by stim- 

 ulating inquiry as to the requisites of a good cheese, and the 

 way to produce it, and we may say to the credit of our farmers, 

 that they have had no secrets in their business. They have 

 freely communicated their ^^ modus operandi'''' to all inquirers. 



