2 
American Butter Factories. 
rewarded in this department of labour, great emulation exists 
among manufacturers to excel in their art. 
During the first 10 years of the factory system it received 
much opposition, especially from those who had only a superficial 
knowledge of its operations. So strong was this opposition 
among the old dairymen, that it was pretty generally believed 
that the system could not long endure, and it was confidently 
predicted that the factories would be abandoned, and those 
engaged in them would return to the old plan of individual or 
farm-dairying. 
But the factories, meanwhile, were steadily gaining ground ; 
and dairymen entering upon the new system found in it so much 
relief, as well as profit, that they could not be induced to 
abandon it ; and so to-day associated-dairying in America has 
come to be regarded as a fixed institution. 
In the original plan of Mr. Williams it was not contemplated 
to apply the system to butter manufacture. But the success of 
the cheese-factories suggested to the butter dairymen of Orange 
County, New York, such a modification of the system as would 
adapt it to their branch of business. 
Orange County lies about 50 miles north of New York City, 
and has long been devoted to producing milk for city con- 
sumption. It is a rolling mountainous region, abounding in 
sweet and nutritious pasturage, with never-failing springs and 
streams of pure water. The whole farming population of this 
county has for 80 years, or more, devoted its chief attention to 
butter-making and the production of fresh milk for the New 
York market. From so long attention to a specialty, the butter 
of Orange County, as was to be expected, was of fine quality, 
acquired a high reputation, and commanded better prices than 
any other brand made in the State. By adopting, however, the 
Associated System, together with a new plan for setting the milk 
and obtaining the cream, the product has risen to the highest 
point of excellence, and in consequence extraordinary prices are 
paid for it. 
But the farmers under this system have not only reaped better 
prices for their butter, they have also obtained an additional 
gain from the skimmed milk, which, under the old system, was 
fed to swine, but which now is turned into a palatable cheese. 
This cheese goes into the Southern States ; it is shipped to 
China and the East Indies, and not unfrequently commands a 
price but little below that made from whole milk. 
As the manufacture of skimmed cheese is a part of the butter 
factory system, we shall speak of it more fully under its 
appropriate head. 
