MILK, BUTTER AND CHEESE. 99 



of the better class of private families, foot up at the end of 

 the year to a larger sum than any other single item of food, 

 except meat, — more than the flour, more than the sugar, and 

 more than the tea and coffee. Adding to this the cost of the 

 cheese which is found occasionally upon nearly every table, 

 and the value of the milk which is consumed by all classes, 

 from the richest to the poorest, and we can, perhaps, form 

 some faint conception of the vast importance of the dairy cow 

 in the domestic economy of our State and of the nation. 



If you are familiar with the language of the grocery or the 

 retail provision store, you know that a rise of a few cents per 

 pound on the price of butter makes more talk among the 

 buyers than a proportional rise on any other article of food, 

 and that however contrary it may be to the rules of etiquette 

 to speak of the food at your friends' table, it is always in 

 order to praise the butter, if it will bear it, or to inquire the 

 prices paid and of whom purchased. 



In fact, butter, which was scarcely known to the ancients, 

 and which has always been considered more or less a luxury, 

 has rapidly become, in our own country at least, one of the 

 every-day necessaries of life. Cheese, which, strictly speaking, 

 is really more of a food than butter, although consumed to a 

 large extent, has as yet become of far less importance to the 

 American family than butter ; but as improved methods of 

 manufacture may be discovered by which a soft, rich, but 

 pleasant cheese can be made and sold at moderate prices in 

 our home markets, its consumption will undoubtedly be 

 increased to an extent far beyond our present conceptions. 



And milk, which is one of the cheapest foods sold in our 

 markets, is yet in the infancy of its production and use, 

 compared with what it might and should be, and to what it 

 would be, if it could reach the consumer in perfect condition, 

 as when drawn from the well-fed and well- cared- for cow. 



On consenting to open the discussion of this subject, I 

 asked, "What can I say? What can I tell the dairymen 

 of Massachusetts that will help to make their lives more 

 pleasant or their business more profitable ? " A friend answers, 

 "Tell them what you know"; but it seems to me that to tell 

 what any of us know about milk, cheese or butter, would not 

 require a very long time in the telling. 



