42 ILLINOIS STATE DAIEYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



handsome property to be divided among the children of the third generation. 



Another difficulty in the business is in disposing of the milk. At times 

 there is a great surplus ; the factories are overtaxed ; the market is over- 

 stocked, and the dairyman finds his milk on his hands, and as he has not 

 provided himself vs^ith facilities for making butter and cheese, what he 

 does in that line is done under such disadvantages that he is unable to pro- 

 duce anything but an article that grades below the standard in quality, and 

 therefore has to be sold at a reduced price. 



Another difficulty, and a very serious one, is that the dairyman has no 

 voice in fixing the value of his product. If he sells it, he simply inquires of 

 the buyer what price he has fixed on it. If it is taken to the factory to be 

 manufactured and sold, he has only to take the avails as reported. Kowwe 

 do not wish to be understood as even intimating that the factoryman does 

 not report the avails correctly, or charge any want of lionesty or fairness on 

 his part. He may have disposed of the butter and cheese manufactured by 

 him at the very highest prices paid at the time he made the sale, and still 

 the facts are that his own interest is in no way affected by tbe prices which 

 he receives. His is a fixed interest and does not and can not prompt him to 

 the exercise of that care in the investigation of the " supply and demand " 

 which will give him an intelligent view of the market, so that he may sell or 

 hold his product as shall best promote the interest of his patrons. 



A comparative view of the prices of cheese during the past few weeks, 

 will afford some insight on this subject. As all are acquainted with the 

 market price of cheese here, we shall only quote prices realized in Kew 

 York. The average prices paid for cheese October 28, was as follows: 

 Utica, 12ic. ; Little Falls, 12|c. ; Herkimer, 124c. November 6— Utica and 

 Little Falls, 12ic. aSovember 13— Utica, 121c.; Little Falls, 13ic. ; Herki- 

 mer, 13c. November 20— Little Falls, I3ic. ; Herkimer, I3ic. ; Utica, I3c. 

 November27— Utica, 13ic, ; Little Falls, 13ic.; Herkimer, 13ic. The prices 

 realized for butter is higher in Elgin than those reported at the dairy centers 

 of New York, and there would seem to be no good reason why the cheese 

 sold should not bring as much here as there. 



Another difficulty to be overcome is found in the perishable nature of 

 milk, necessitating the best facilities for cooling and curing. We simply 

 notice this difficulty. The necessity of having additional facilities for this 

 purpose will be felt when we examine the system of dairying as now con- 

 ducted in Denmark. 



The practical workings of the law of supply and demand was finely illus- 

 trated in Utica, November 13. The demand was for cheese made in Sep- 

 tember, while the offerings were mostly of October make. One salesman, 

 representing the Willow Grove factory at Trenton, had eight hundred boxes 

 of September cheese, and availing himself of the advantages of his 

 knowledge of the '' stock on hand," refused to sell at less than fourteen 

 cents per pound, at which price he closed the lot. This was three-fourths of 

 a cent per pound above the extreme and one and one-eighth cents per 

 pound above the average price paid at that time for cheese made in October. 

 Nor has the demand for September cheese abated. The reports for Novem- 



