and Us adaptabilitij to English Dairy Districts. 
175 
tlie question, as obtained by me during visits made lor the pur- 
pose to the most important Knglisli dairy districts. 
The origin of the American Cheese-factory system is ascribed 
bv Mr. X. A. VVillard * to Mr. Jesse Williams, a farmer living 
near Rome, Oneida County, New York, under the following 
circumstances : — 
"Mr. Williams was an experienced and skilful clieese-maker at a time 
when the bulk of American cheese was poor. His dairy, therefore, enjoyed a 
hiuh reputation, and Avas eagerly sought for by dealers. In the spring of 
1851, one of his sons having married, entered upon farnung on his own account, 
and tlie father contracted the clieese made on both farms at seven cents per 
pound, a figure considerably higher than was being oflercd for other dairies in 
that vicinity. "When the contract was made known to the son, he expressed 
great doubt as to whether he shoidd be able to manufacture the character of 
cheese that would be acceptable under the contract. He had never taken 
charge of the manufacture of cheese while at home, and never having given 
the subject that close attention which it necessarily requires, he felt that his 
success in coming up to the required standard would be a mere matter of 
chance. His father, therefore, proposed coming daily upon the farm, and 
giving the cheese-making a portion of his immediate supervision. But this 
would be very inconvenient, and while devising means to meet the diCBculties, 
and secure the benefits of the contract, which was more than ordinarily good, 
the idea was suggested that the son should deliver the milk from his herd 
daily at the father's milk-house. From this thought spruna; the idea of 
uniting the milk from several neighbouring dairies and manufacturing it at 
one place." 
The above quotation gives the true origin of the existing 
system of associated dairies ; but a few years previously another 
system had been tried, and found inefficient, in the State of Ohio. 
Therefore, for ' the purpose of showing English dairy-farmers 
what to avoid, I quote the following paragraph from a paper by 
Mr. A. Bartlettjt of Ohio : — 
" So long ago as 1848 a system of cheese manufacturing was in operation 
in some parts of Trumbull and Ashtabala counties, and in the course of the 
next few years was largely extended. The plan of operations under this 
system was briefly as follows : some person or firm would erect suitable 
buildings or fixtures, and purchase the curds of the surrounding farmers, 
haul the cmds to the factory and weigh them, paying a stipulated price per 
pound The system had radical defects, the chief of which was that 
the curds, being made by the several different farmers who furnished them, 
there was, of course, almost as many different qualities of curds as there were 
farmers fm'nishing them ; an<l it is impossible to make a prime article of 
cheese from a curd that has been mismanaged during its first stages." 
This attempt, therefore, failed ; and in the spring of 1862, after 
a visit to the factory of Mr. Jesse Williams, who founded the 
rival system, Mr. Bartlett introduced into the State of Ohio the 
* 'Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for the year 1865,' pp. 432, 43.''. 
■)• ' Twentieth Annual Report of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture for the 
year 1865, pp. 170, 171. 
