82 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



eran dairyman of Boone county. It made a very considerable impression 

 upon us as showing the difficulty under which the pioneer farmers and 

 dairymen of this great western country labored. We can only call at- 

 tention to a portion of his pa.per as pertaining to the dairy industry. He 

 laid the cows were brought up and milked in the shade of the trees in the 

 summer time, and in the shelter of a hay or corn stalk stack in the winter 

 time. He described the cheese-making process as carried on by the good 

 wife, as in those days- the women were considered the only butter and 

 cheese makers. We had not yet evolved the scientific dairyman or butter- 

 miaker such as we find about us today and scattered thickly all over the 

 country from east to west. After milking the milk was strained into a 

 large open iron kettle swung on a pole supported by two sticks with a 

 crotch in the top and a fire built underneath, the rennet added, and in this 

 way the milk was brought to the normal temperature for separating the 

 curd from the whey. The whey was carefully dipped off from the top of 

 the kettle and curd taken out, drained on a cloth stretched over a frame, 

 carefully packed in wooden hoops, pressed by means of a lever and heavy 

 weights attached to one end and laid away to dry and cure in the loft of 

 the one story dwelling. 



How many of the dairymen today would be content to even under- 

 take to accomplish the making of a decent article of cheese in that way? 

 Few, I ween. Those methods would not be used in this day of scientific 

 dairy education with any success, but there is no doubt that as good cheese 

 was made at times in the old fa&hioned rule of thumb way as is made now 

 with the whole extensive knowledge that we have of dairy bacteriology, 

 improved methods, machinery, etc. Dairying has come to be almost an 

 exact science, and the man, woman, or factoryman who hopes to succeed 

 or who can succeed in this field must be up with times; must keep up with 

 the times. It has been only a f e;w years since centrifugal cream separat- 

 ing has been known and practiced in the dairy world. Last winter under 

 the auspices of the Department of Agriculture Lmade a trip through Ken- 

 tucky, and found very intelligent Kentucky ladies who were making 

 butter from cream raised in stone crocks.. That certainly is an old 



