278 RURAL NEW YORK 



butter has decreased nearly 40 per cent which is 

 part of a continuous decrease for thirty-five years 

 from 1880 when the maximum ])roduction occurred. 

 The manufacture of clieese has decreased 60 per cent 

 in ten years which is part of a continuous decrease 

 for sixty-five years from 1850. This antedated the 

 development of machines and equipment for the man- 

 ufacture of butter in factories, chief of which was 

 the milk separator that was inveaited in 1879 and 

 came into general use in the eighties. Butter and 

 cheese are less perishable than raw milk and cream 

 and their production is relatively more economical 

 in regions remote from market, where stock feed is 

 cheapest. Market milk must be produced as close 

 as possible to the center of consumption. 



The total production of butter in 1909 was 69,- 

 358,918 pounds, valued at $13,500,000. The rank 

 of New York was eighth, Wisconsin leading as also 

 in the production of cheese. Of this amount, 66 per 

 cent was made in factories and 34 per cent in farm 

 dairies. 



The first creamery or butter factory in America 

 was operated at Campbell Hall, Orange County, in 

 1856. That county was the first important dairy 

 center and " Goslien butter " was a standard mar- 

 ket grade in the middle of the last century. In 

 1914 there were 576 creameries in the State, Minne- 

 sota leading in the United States with 848 factories 

 and Wisconsin second with 812. 



Among tlie very earliest American factories of 

 milk separators and other dairy supplies was one at 



