340 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
The Associated Dairy or Cheese Factory 
System. 
■ 
We have long sought an opportunity to visit, 
so as to inspect somewliat minutely, some of 
the cheese disti-icts -n-here the Factory system 
has met with so much favor, and have recently 
had the satisfaction of so doing. The cheese 
factories exist chiefly in the central counties iu 
New York, in those of Northern Ohio, and to a 
considerable extent in Canada. We visited es- 
tablishments in Lake County, O., a year or more 
ago, and recently in Onondaga and Oneida 
Counties iu this State, and add our testimony to 
that of others iu regard to the general satisfac- 
tion Tvhich the system gives, as at present con- 
ducted. The farmers we conversed with at 
the State Fair and elsewhere, are agreed that 
a great saving of labor to themselves and their 
families is effected, and that they realize larger 
and surer profits. The dairymen are well satis- 
fled with their remuneration, which is from Ic 
to I2 cts. per pound of cheese made, weighed at 
the tmie of sale. They are able to pay good 
wages to their employees. The course usually 
pursued is briefly as follows: The factory is 
owned by the dairyman; he provides the labor 
— usually that of men and women in about 
equal proportions, including his own. He owns 
also all the dairy furniture, vats, hoops, presses, 
etc., etc. Those who furnish the milk, provide 
all those articles that are consumed iu the using, 
rennet, salt, bandages, boxes, firewood, etc. 
These are bought by the dairyman, and the ac- 
counts audited by a committee of the " patrons." 
The milk is weighed when received, and each 
patron credited with what he furnishes. Sus- 
pected samples are tested by taste, color, and 
by the hydrometer and cream measurer. When 
the cheese is ready for market it is usually sold 
by a committee of the patrons, and this is done 
repeatedly during the season. 
We find a great similarity in 
the construction of the fiictories, 
though iu some cases old build- 
ings have been adapted to their 
present use, and are neverthe- 
less quite convenient. The plan 
we give is drawn with some 
.modifications from one which 
has done service iu the Agricul- 
tui'al Transactions of New York 
and Maine, and represents with 
suflicieut accuracy the general 
ai'rangements of many of the 
smaller establishments which 
are scattered over the central 
counties of this State. A good 
location must of necessity be 
conveniently situated in rela- 
tion to the farms from which the 
milk is to come ; and it must 
have a good supply of running 
water, the colder the better, 
(for if sufficiently cold the ice 
house is often dispensed with.) 
The necessary buildings, or 
apartments, for they may all be 
under one roof, are the factory 
{A) in which are the curd vats, 
with a press-room (B) attached, 
and a curing house (C). Besides 
these, we usually find an ice 
house, an engine room, a wood- 
shed, and hog pens. The vats 
CFi) are usually about 15 feet 
long by 3a in width, and are ar- 
ranged conveniently near a window on one side 
of the factory, to which the milk wagons can 
ajiproach upon a raised roadway. At this win- 
dow is a large can upon a platform scales. The 
wagons must stand high enough for the milk to 
flow easily into this can, when it is weighed 
and then drawn off into the vats. The weigher's 
desk ifV) stands by the side of the scale. 
The vats are arranged so as to allow a stream of 
cold water to flow around each, which keeps the 
night's milk cool until morning, and after the 
addition of the morning's milk, the cold water 
being shut off, the steam is let on, which rap- 
idly raises the temperature of the water on the 
outside of the vats, and of the milk itself to the 
point deemed most desirable for the addition of 
the rennet. In very hot weather blocks of 
ice are put into the night's milk to keep the 
temperature low enough to prevent cream from 
rising, and to keep the milk sweet. The water 
flows off from the opposite ends of the vats, 
near the centre of the room, and the whey is 
drawn ofi' here also, and that from the vats, 
from the " sink," (S,) and from the presses, all 
flows ofl' in a channel beneath the floor to the 
whey vats, which should be such a distance 
from the building that the odor of the sour 
whey is not perceived. The floors should also 
be so constructed that water will flow to the 
centre or to some scupper-holes, so that they 
may easily bekept sweet and cleau. The " sink " 
iu which the curd is strained, worked and salt- 
ed, is on wheels, and rolls iu a track to the 
presses. The press-room is connected by a plat- 
form with the curing house, so that the cheeses 
may be moved on a truck from the presses to 
the "racks." We show a perpendicular section 
of one story of the curing house, showing the 
cliceses on the racks or " ranges," which are ar- 
ranged as shown iu the plan (C) A shed to 
cover the milk wagons iu case of rain, is shown 
both in the plan of the factory (-1) and iu the 
elevation of the same. The whey is in part fed 
to hogs upon the ground, and in part I'emoved 
by the farmers, each one being allowed to take 
a certain quantity, in proportion to the milk he 
fiu'nishes, or to keep a certain number of hogs 
at the ftictory. The former practice is better, 
for the hogs fed at home get a greater variety 
of food, and make much better pork. 
How to Handle Shovels, 
Few men, comparatively, understand how to 
use a shovel having either a long, or a short 
handle, without producing great fatigue in a 
short period of time. When a man thrusts his 
shovel into a heap of earth, by a violent swing 
of his body and arms, the fatigue produced by 
the exercise of the muscles, which are used in 
such a movement, will be greater than the ex- 
haustion resulting from the expenditure of 
strength required to raise the earth after the 
blade of the shovel has been thrust iu. The 
engraving will furnish a correct idea of the best 
way to use a short-handled shovel, in order to 
thrust it into the material to be shoveled, with 
the least fatigue. The hand holding the hilt is 
placed against the side of one knee, when, by 
simply throwing the body forward without 
moving either foot, the blade will be driven its 
entire length into the dirt. This motion of the 
body will produce very little fatigue, when com- 
pared with the other mode just alluded to. 
Still, we do not recommend working with a 
short handle shovel ; it can be done with a long- 
handled shovel with far less fatigue. When 
using a shovel with a long handle, the fatigue 
of the muscles that do the shoveling, is greater 
than of those moving the body. On the con- 
trary, when a shovel with a short handle is 
used, the muscles of the body are fatigued. 
Thus the strength eapended in using a short 
handled shovel, is not economically laid out, for 
it is an established rule that labor performed 
should produce the fatigue, and not the wielding 
of the tool. Our artist has given the \vorkman 
much too short a shovel, but it illustrates well 
enough the point we would impress. 
Fkost, even if very slight, injures squashes 
and pumpkins. Carrots are damaged seriously 
by a frost that freezes the ground. Beets and 
rutabagas will bear but little more, losing 
especially in sweetness. Cabbages, celeiy and 
turnips may bo exposed when water will freeze 
'|b inch thick and not be injured unless they are 
thawed out rapidly by the warm sun. 
