PRODUCTS OF THE DAIRY. 181 



and, lastly, that an increased and permanent foreign demand 

 renders prices stable, so that the dairy farmer can nearly always 

 count npon the income from his farm. 



The Herkimer County farmers claim that there has not been 

 a failure in the grass crop of the county for thirty years ; that 

 is, that during that time there has been no necessity for tnrning 

 off the herds for want of pasturage nor the importation of hay 

 or fodder for their winter keep. 



For the last twenty years I have had personal observation of 

 the cheese crop of the county, and in no year has it failed, 

 though of course some seasons have been marked as giving 

 below the average yield, but none so markedly poor as to be 

 called a failure. 



I have referred to the claim that the labor expense on a dairy 

 farm is less than that for grain. I have known of many in- 

 stances where one man and one woman have done all the work 

 on a farm carrying thirty cows, except the employment of an 

 additional hand for a couple of months in haying and harvesting. 



The more usual course among those who rent farms carrying 

 from thirty to forty cows is to hire a man for six or eight 

 months — perhaps a girl for the same time in the house, if the 

 wife is not strong, and cheese-making is to be conducted on the 

 farm. I cannot say that this always is the best course, or that 

 more profits might not be secured by a judicious outlay of more 

 manual labor ; I only mention the fact to show that an hundred 

 acres in pasture and fifty acres in meadow are managed with 

 less labor than if the same were devoted to other crops than 

 grass. 



The average annual receipts on good dairy farms at the East, 

 at present prices of dairy products, are from twenty to twenty- 

 five dollars per acre. 



Before proceeding to give in detail some of the methods found 

 to be successful in dairy practice, it may be well to review in 

 brief the present condition of the cheese interest in this country 

 and Europe. From the figures which I shall present, tlie farm- 

 ers of Massachusetts will, I trust, be able to see more clearly 

 what inducements arc offered in turning their attention to this 

 branch of farming. 



It is only quite recently that the dairy has become an im- 

 portant branch of national industry. During tlie past eiglit 



