34.0 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
j 
Vo o d 
The Associated Dairy or Cheese Factory 
System. 
^Ye have long sought an opportunity to visit, 
so as to inspect somewhat minutely, some of 
the cheese districts where 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 in 
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 in this State, and add our testimony to 
that of others in regard to tlie general satisfac¬ 
tion which the system gives, as at jn'esent 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 sui’er profits. The dairymen are well satis¬ 
fied with tlieir remuneration, which is from Ic 
to li cts. per pound of cheese made, weighed at 
the time of sale. They are able to pay good 
Avages 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 Avomen in about 
equal proportions, including his own. He owns 
also all the dairy furniture, vats, hoops, presses, 
etc., etc. Those Avho furnish the milk, provide 
all those articles tliat are consumed in the using, 
rennet, salt, bandages, boxes, lircAvood, etc. 
These are bought by the dairyman, and the ac¬ 
counts audited by a committee of the “ patrons.” 
The milk is Aveighed w’hen received, and each 
patron credited Avith Avhat he furnishes, Sus¬ 
pected samples are tested by taste, color, and 
by the hydrometer and cream measurer. Wlien 
the cheese is ready for marl?et it ig usually sold 
[ly a conpnittee of tlio {AatronSj and tills js done 
repeatedly during the season. 
We find a great similarity in 
the construction of the factories, 
though in some cases old build¬ 
ings have been adapted to their 
present use, and are neverthe¬ 
less quite convenient. The plan 
Avc give is drawn with some 
modifications from one which 
has done service in the Agricul¬ 
tural Transactions of New York 
and Maine, and represents with 
sufficient accuracy the general 
arrangements of many of the 
smaller establishments Avhich 
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 Avhich the 
milk is to come; and it must 
liavc a good supply of running 
Avater, the colder the better, 
(for if sulficiently cold the ice 
house is often dispensed Avith.) 
The necessary buildings, or 
apartments, for they may all be 
under one roof, are the factory 
(A) in Avhich are the curd vats, 
Avith a press-room {B) attached, 
and a curing house ((7). Besides 
these, we usually find an ice 
house, an engine room, a wood¬ 
shed, and hog pens. The vats 
(F,) are usually about 15 feet 
long by 3$ in width, and are ar¬ 
ranged conveniently near a AvindoAV on one side 
of the factory, to Avhich the milk Avagons can 
approach upon a raised roadAvay. At this Avin- 
doAV is a large can upon a platform scales. The 
wagons snust stand high enough for the milk to 
flow easily into this can, when it is Aveighed 
and then draAvn off into the vats. TheAveigher’s 
desk (d) stands by the side of the scale. 
The vats are arranged so as to allow a stream of 
cold AvatertofloAv around each, which keeps the 
night’s milk cool until morning, and after the 
additipn of the morning’s milk, the cold Avater 
being shut off, the steam is let on, Avhich rap¬ 
idly’' raises the temperature of the Avater 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 Aveather blocks of 
ice are put into the niglit’s milk to keep the 
temperature Ioav enough to prevent cream from 
rising, and to keep the milk sAveet. The Avater 
floAvs off from the opposite ends of the vats, 
near the centre of the room, and tlie Avhey is 
drawn ofl' here also, and that from the vats, 
from the “ sink,” (S,) and from the presses, all 
flows off .in a channel beneath the floor to the 
Avhey vats, Avhich should be such a distance 
from the building that the odor of the sour 
Avhey is not perceived. The floors should also 
be so constructed that Avater Avill floAV to the 
centre or to some scupper-holes, so that they 
may easily bekept sweet and clean. The “ sink ” 
in Avhich the curd is strained, Avorked and salt¬ 
ed, is on Avheels, and rolls in a track to the 
presses. The press-room is connected by a plat¬ 
form Avith 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, shoAving the 
cheeses on the racks or “ ranges,” Avhich are ar¬ 
ranged as shoAvn in the plan {('.) A shed to 
coyer the pjilk Avagons iq case of raiUj is ghoAvu 
both in the plan of the firctory (A) and in the 
elevation of the same. The Avhey is in part fed 
to hogs upon the ground, and in part removed 
by the farmers, each one being alloAved to take 
a certain quantity, in proportion to the milk he 
furnishes, or to keep a certain number of hogs 
at the factory. 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 
shoAml into a heap of earth, by a violent swing 
of his body and arms, the fatigue produced by 
the exercise of the muscles, Avhich are used in 
such a movement, Avill 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 in. The 
engraving will furnish a correct idea of the best 
Avay to use a short-handled shovel, in order to 
thrust it into the material to be shoveled, Avilh 
the least fatigue. The hand holding the hilt is 
placed against the side of one knee, Avhen, by 
simply throAving the body forward Avithout 
moving either foot, the blade will be dilven its 
entire length into the dirt. This motion of the 
body will jAroduce very little fatigue, Avhen com¬ 
pared with the other mode just alluded to. 
Still, we do not recommend working Avith a 
short handle shovel; it can be done with a long- 
handled shovel with far less fatigue. When 
using a shoA'^el Avith 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 Avith a short handle is 
used, the muscles of the body are fatigued. 
Thus the strength expended 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 nottheAvielding 
of the tool. Our artist has given the Avorkman 
much too short a shovel, but it illustrates Avcll 
enough the point Ave Avould impress. 
m-< ii -h O W » 
Frost, even if very slight, injures squashes 
and pumpkins. Carrots are damaged seriously 
by a frost that freezes the ground. Beets and 
rutabagas Avill bear but little more, losing 
especially in SAveetness. Cabbages, celery and 
turnips may be exposed Avhen Avater will freeze 
’I 3 inch thick and not be injured unless they ai-q 
tljawed out rapidly by the 
