182 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



years it has been rapidly spreading over new fields. It is en- 

 gaging the attention of farmers in the Eastern, Western, North- 

 Western and Middle States, wherever lands are adapted to 

 grazing and there are streams of living water. 



American dairying now represents a capital of more than 

 $700,000,000. The cheese product last year, (1867,) sold for 

 125,000,000, and the butter product for at least an 1100,000,000. 

 In 1864 the butter product of New York alone was nearly 

 85,000,000 of pounds, and the quantity of cheese made, 

 72,000,000 of pounds. The value of these products, at a very 

 moderate estimate, was then 150,000,000. 



The wheat crop of New York in 1864 was 6,000,000 bushels ; 

 oats, 19,000,000 ; rye, 2,000,000 ; and corn, 17,000,000. The 

 product of New York dairies therefore sold for more than the 

 entire grain crop of the State. 



The wool clip of the State that year was not quite 16,000,000 

 pounds, which, at a dollar per pound, would amount to no more 

 than one-third that from the dairy. There has been a large 

 increase of dairy farming in New York since 1864. 



Looking carefully over the census, I fail to find any other 

 agricultural interest in the State that can begin to measure arms 

 with the dairy ; for, if we add the value of pork made from 

 whey, the calves raised and the beef and milk sold, we can 

 hardly get the annual product from the dairy farms of New York 

 below an hundred millions of dollars. Am I wrong then in 

 supposing the dairy farmers of New Yoi'k to be the most pow- 

 erful body of agriculturists devoted to a specialty in that State ? 



It is remarkable how rapidly this interest has been developed. 

 In 1840 the value of the dairy products of New York, — butter, 

 cheese and milk, — was estimated by the United States census 

 as only $10,496,000, and in all the States at about $34,000,000. 

 In 1850 the product of butter in the United States and Terri- 

 tories was 313,345,306 pounds, and the cheese 105,535,893 

 pounds. In 1860 the butter product had reached 466,681,372 

 pounds, and the cheese 103,663,927 pounds. The value of these 

 products that year could not have been less than two hundred 

 millions of dollars. The total industrial product arising from 

 agriculture within the United States, in 1860, was estimated 

 at about eighteen hundred millions of dollars. 



