PRICE «l3t CENTS 
82.30 PE It YEAR, 
[Entered according to Act trt CongreeB, in the jeur IW4, by the Kumi Publishing Compan y, tn the office «.i the Librarian of Congress at Washington,] 
prices in the main have been sufficiently 
high to furnish a fair compensation for labor 
and capital invested. Wo are glad our West¬ 
ern friends feel satisfied over last year’s 
operations, and we-can pardon their feeling 
of gratification in contrasting their business 
with that at the East, since they have strug¬ 
gled manfully to overcome difficulties, and 
are deserving of success. 
THE OUTLETS FOR WESTERN PRODUCTS. 
Mr. Favtll regards the question of send 
ing Western butter and cheese to New York 
markets to compete with Eastern dairy 
COST Of TRANSPORTATION. 
The relative cost of transporting cheese and 
grain to the seaboard is figured in the follow 
iug manner:—He says the railroad charges 
the Wisconsin farmer for a car to Send cheese 
to New York, Boston or Philadelphia arc *200. 
The Cheese when there Is worth $2,500. On 
the Other hand, they will charge for a ear to 
send wheat or corn to the same places $125. 
The car load of wheat, when we get it to 
market, is worth on an average $000, and 
the corn #375 to $100. Thus it, takes four car 
loads of wheat, to he equal In value to one 
be filled up by factory men, and returned to 
some persons employed to arrange the sta¬ 
tistics in form for use, dealers and producers 
could he. put in possession of the requisite 
information. And this information would 
lie Of immense service at certain limes to 
both seller and buyer, since without, accurate 
knowledge of the product both parties are 
liable to lie misled. 
Mr. Morrow thinks the prospects for the 
dairy interest of the Northwest are bright. 
Thus far special attention to dairying in the 
Northwest has been largely confined to 
Northern Illinois and Missouri, but tin in¬ 
creasing interest isnow being taken in lows, 
Minnesota and Central Illinois. Many fac¬ 
tories will be established the present year, 
and, better, many of those in operation in 
previous years will have a greater quantity 
of milk. 
THE NORTHWEST ADAPTED TO DAIRYING. 
The Hon. Hiram Hmitii, Sheboygan Palls, 
Wis., in advocating the question of the adap¬ 
tation of dairying to the Northwest, says it 
would seem to bo a work of supererogation 
in the face of an annual production of 30,- 
000,000 pounds of cheese and more than that 
of butter, together with the thousands of 
prosperous dairy farmers scattered all 
through the Northwest. 'These facts settle 
the question of the adaptability, but another 
and pert incut question arises as to whether 
the Northwest is not the very best dairy 
region yet occupied. The soil is unsurpassed 
for richness, the climate is favorable—all the 
eastern portion being tempered by the cool¬ 
ing breezes of Lake Michigan. The herbage 
is of the best character for milk, as white 
clover and June or blue grass-are indigenous, 
or creep in unaided, and frequently in spite 
of efforts to prevent it. Again, the cheapness 
of the land; its close, proximity to the largest, 
corn fields in the world; the general health¬ 
fulness of the herds; their freedom from most 
of the maladies that a!Ihet many of the older 
dairy districts of the East; the network of 
railroads that accommodate nearly all por¬ 
tions of the country, giving almost equal 
advantages in freight with any other local¬ 
ity. All these favorable conditions, ho thinks, 
make it no exaggeration to say that $30,000 
invested in dairy farming in the Northwest 
is fully equal to $30,000 invested in the same 
business in the dairy districts of New York. 
Mr. Smith uses strong arguments, and we 
believe they arc pretty well grounded, and 
the sooner Eastern dairymen look at the 
facts as they are, and try to base their work 
on superior skill rather than on soil and lo¬ 
cation, the better, it seems to us, will it be 
for all parties concerned, it is useless for 
Eastern dairymen to indulge longer in the 
notion that good butter and good cheese can¬ 
not be made in the Northwest, It behooves 
us to look well to our laurels and so improve 
our product, from year to year, that we 
may not fall behind the Western dairymen, 
who are pushing their manufactures to the 
highest standard of excellence. 
PROFITS OF DAIRYING. 
One of the interesting features Concerning 
dairying is t.o learn how much is realized 
from the business. We give, therefore, some 
of the statements of our Western friends 
that they may be compared with receipts 
from the dairy in other sections of the coun¬ 
try. W. C. White, Kenosha, Wis., says 
that during the war, when the prices of 
cheese were high, he received at the rate of 
$104 per cow. Since that the -average had 
ranged from $70 to $100 per cow. lie feeds 
high, and the cheese is made on the farm. 
DAIRYING IN THE NORTHWEST 
The dairymen of the Northwest had their 
annual convention at Woodstock, Ill., about 
the middle of February, and the transac¬ 
tions of the meeting in an official form are 
now printed. They make a neat pamphlet, 
of 8$ pages—the first report for 1874 that we 
have seen of the several dairy associations 
throughout the different States, which held 
conventions during the past winter. The 
Secretary, Mr. G. E. Morrow, Madison, 
Wis., is to be commended for his activity in 
thus placing his report before the dairymen 
so that, If, will reach them at the commence¬ 
ment of their work, when it is most desired 
for consultation. Mr. Morrow states in his 
prefatory notice that, witli only two or 
three exceptions, the writers of the papers 
published and those who engaged in the dis¬ 
cus tons are directly interested in dairying, 
either as milk producers, butter or cheese 
manufacturers, or dealers in dairy products. 
Wo ought, therefore, to be able to glean 
something of practical value for our dairy 
readers. Without attempting to make a 
synopsis of any of tins papers, we shall only 
take up such matter in the report as may 
seem to us of general interest. 
THE DAIRY IN M HENRY COUNTY. 
Mr. W. TT. Stewart, Woodstock, 111., in 
his address of welcome, states that there are 
about thirty cheese and butter factories in 
the county above named, at which during 
the year 1873, no less than 17,000,000 pounds 
of milk have bevn Worked up, producing 
1,500,000 pounds of cheese and 100,000 pounds 
of creamery butter. In addition there have 
been shipped from the county to Chicago no 
less than a million pounds of milk. After 
providing for the home demands for domes¬ 
tic uses, he estimates there has been pro¬ 
duced for exportation by private enterprise, 
dairy products, principally butter, not less 
than $50,000 in value, making the direct eash 
revenue of this interest to the county not 
less than $350,000. Besides this, there has 
been a large indirect and mixed addition in 
the growth of young stock, veal, pork, hogs, 
&c., which enter largely into the economy 
of duiry farming. 
There is invested in this enterprise, in fac¬ 
tories and fixtures, dairy cows and stock at 
least $300,000, besides tlie lands required to 
produce the feed for its sustenance. 
Mr. B. thinks that this showing may he 
looked upon by tin. residents of the county 
with some feeling of pride, especially as it 
is only seven years since tlie first cheese fac¬ 
tory was built in the county. Wc think the 
people of tins county have reason to feel 
proud of their uchievenn nts in dairying, 
and the figures we have predated will sur¬ 
prise some of our Eastern dairymen who 
have not kept well informed as to the pro¬ 
gress of the dairy interest in some sections 
of tlie West. 
WESTERN OAIRYMEN FEEL NAPPY. 
Mr. Stephen Fa vim., President of the 
Northwestern Association, says tlie results 
of the past season have been highly gratify 
ing to the Western dairymen. While the 
Eastern dairymen have been complaining of 
short crops, a small yield of cheese and hard 
times generally, the dairymen of the West 
are rejoicing in plenty. Not only have they 
been enabled to make a fair showing as to 
idUItOPTnATST 43TrjPE\AI,0-(S«*e next 
goods as fully settled, as many of the W est- 
ern factories during 1873 received (lie high¬ 
est price for cheese. The experiment of 
sending Western cheese direct to European 
markets has also proved profitable. These 
outlets for the summer surplus, lie says, 
have left tlie Western home markets in a 
good, healthy condition, and had it not been 
fur the panic in money circles, the prices 
realized for dairy products would have been 
considerably better in 1873 than in 1873. 
IMPROVEMENT IN WESTERN BUTTER. 
It is generally conceded, we believe, that 
the quality of Western butter lias been 
greatly improved during the past few years. 
Mr. Favtll thinks there has been more im¬ 
provement in the quality of butter within 
the last two years than there has been in 
cheese. Tliree years age, he says, the butter 
makers who got forty cents per pound for 
their butter were very few, but the number 
now is greatly increased, and butter dealers 
affirm that it is not nearly so difficult to get 
number one butter now as it used to be. 
BEEF VERSUS CHEESE. 
Mr. Fa vim, makes a comparison as to’ tlie 
cost of feeding for beef or for cheese, and 
estimates that tlie food required to make 
one pound of beef will, if fed for milk, be 
sufficient to make two and one-third pounds 
of cheese. Now if *he relative nutritive 
value of beef and cheese as an article of food 
be taken into account, we find the pound of 
cheese contains as much nutriment as two 
pounds of beef, hence the dairyman is doing 
good service in economizing food. True, 
some allowance must bo made for tlie labor 
of caring for the cow and in making the 
cheese; still when this is all brought into the 
account we have a large balance in favor of 
the cheese. 
■Page.) 
load of cheese, at an extra cost of transpor¬ 
tation of $300; and if corn be sent it takes 
six loads as the equivalent at an extra cost 
for freight of $550. The net of each will 
stand thus:— the eiieese, $2,300; wheat, $3,- 
000 ; corn, $1,750. 
This is very well put, and shows that our 
Western friends are figuring some of the 
advantages of the dairy which we pointed 
out to them some years ago. 
STATISTICS NEEDEO. 
Secretary Morrow very truly says that if 
full statistics of the dairy interest of tlie 
Northwest could lie secured for the reports, 
their value would be much increased. At 
home and abroad there is much Jack of 
knowledge concerning the extent and excel¬ 
lence of the butter and cheese product Of 
tlie Northwest, and a majority of those in¬ 
terested seem perfectly willing that this lack 
of knowledge shall continue. These re¬ 
marks apply equally well to dairymen in 
New York and the East, and it is a question 
which we have agitated for years, urging 
that cheese dealers and all those interested 
in the sale of dairy products unite with the 
dairy associations in some systematic plan 
for obtaining reliable statistics-of quantity 
of eiieese anil butter annually produced, and 
the quantity bock in producers’ hands from 
time to time during the season. Of course 
tliis will cost something, but when distrib¬ 
uted over the large number interested the 
sum to each would be trifling. At tlie dairy 
Boards of Trade the product on band from 
week to week for certain sections of the 
country could bo collected in a short time 
from faetorymeu svho are on the market to 
make sale of their products. Or, by sending 
out postal cards with printed questions, to 
