ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 33 



the inventive disposition of Americans, their proverbial independence and 

 egotism, most manufactures should be aiming at the same general standard. 

 It is not so in Europe. At a recent dairy show, one dealer exhibited over 

 seventy varieties of cheese, differing widely in size, shape, color and taste. 

 We have many tastes to gratify among our own people, and greater variety 

 would much stimulate demand. Sometime, somebody will discover the 

 mode of meeting the practical difficulties in producing a satisfactory small 

 cheese, of such size that it can go into the retail trade for sale without 

 cutting. 



There has been a great improvement in the reputation of western dairy 

 products — both butter and cheese, but there is still room for effort to 

 increase the local reputation. These efforts should not be made in a too 

 narrow spirit. If one can improve the general quality of all the cheese 

 produced in his county, he is aiding his own prosperity, unless indeed he be 

 relying on a special, limited local market. Reputations can be lost as well 

 as made. A State lying east of us stands far lower as a cheese producer 

 than she did a few years since. The cause is mainly, too much skimming. 

 Another western State, as far west as Illinois, to-day holds a first rank for 

 the quality of her cheese ; in that State less skimming has been done than 

 in any other of which I know. 



The old question, whether the West could successfully compete with 

 the East in dairy products, I count fully settled. Each section has its 

 advantages, but the cheaper and more fertile lands, the abundant grass and 

 low priced grains, the lower priced cows, and other advantages enjoyed by 

 the West, fully counterbalance any superiority in other respects on the part 

 of the East. There is room enough for both sections, and may be demand 

 enough for all their dairy products. 



After all, success in dairying, the future prosperity of the dairy 

 interest, depends very largely on the character of the men engaged in it. 

 In the new conditions we are meeting and must continue to meet, this will 

 be increasingly true. The trained mind, the greater brain power, is to be 

 a larger element of success than in the past. I believe there is a bright 

 future for American agriculture and for this special interest among the rest, 

 but trained, disciplined men will be needed. General and special education 

 is to be more of a necessity for the farmer than it has been in the past. 

 Not a mere training in manual labor, not a narrow education as to practice 

 will be best, but such an education as will make the best man ; understand- 

 ing his business and knowing something besides this, that he may better 

 understand it. 



