41 



The farmer who crops thirty tons of hay every 3^ear and sells 

 it, cither robs his farm of the nutriment contained therein, or is 

 obliged to replace it by purchasing manure ; an operation Avhich, 

 however profitable it may have been during the past three or four 

 years, could not, in ordinary times, be performed except with loss, 

 or, at any rate, without profit. But if that hay is fed to milch 

 stock, while a large profit is to be counted on from the manufac- 

 ture of cheese, the manure which is produced richly replaces in the 

 soil the constituents that were taken from it. 



The question might be asked, " Why not, if the products of the 

 farm are to be used on it, raise cattle for the butcher ? There is 

 a good demand for beef cattle." Because cheese husbandry is 

 more profitable, as is shown by the following statement by S. L. 

 Goodale, Secretary of the Maine Board of Agriculture. " Judg- 

 ing from the best data we have been able to obtain, the opinion is 

 held that the food which will make one pound of meat, will, usu- 

 ally, make at least twenty pounds of milk, and, where really good 

 dairy cows are kept, probably twenty-five pounds. Assuming, 

 then, only twenty pounds of milk to be the equivalent of one 

 pound of meat, we can have, if Ave choose, in its place, two pounds 

 of cheese. Although the proportion of cheese to be obtained from 

 milk is valuable, depending on the amount of butter and caseine 

 which the milk contains, it may be safely set at as much as one 

 pound from ten pounds of milk. In one case, I was credibly in- 

 formed of its having been made from eight and a half pounds ; 

 but nine and a half are usually required with average milk and 

 fair management. So long, therefore, as a pound of cheese com- 

 mands as much money as a pound of meat, it would seem that. we 

 may largely increase the returns from our grazing lands ; or, if 

 Ave take the usual prices of meat, as a basis for our estimate, Ave 

 may conclude that the actual cost of producing a gallon of milk 

 does not exceed five cents ; and if Ave can, Avithout too large cost 

 for manufacture, convert it into Avhat will bring eight, ten, tAvelve, 

 or fifteen cents, it must be a profitable operation. It is not sup- 

 posed that mere economy Avill cA'er induce people to restrict their 

 diet to the single article of che'ese, hoAvever nutritious it may be, 

 and that thus an unbounded demand for it should be created. 

 But the shrcAvd farmer ever looks closely to the market vakie of 

 different products, and changes his crop as circumstances suggest. 

 It is pertinent, therefore, to inquire what is the market for cheese, 

 and Avhere and Avhat it is likely to be in the future, and hoAV soon 

 it may be so supplied that prices shall fall beloAv remuneration." 



Let us give a brief glance at the facts that statistics furnish us 

 for information on these points. 



In 1867 the total exports of American cheese amounted to but 

 6,500,000 pounds, about 4,000,000 of which went to Great Brit- 



