Ijufibamlrw. 
THE NEW DEPARTURE IN DAIRY 
MANAGEMENT. 
Some changes are gradually being made in 
the cheese factory system which promise to 
be an additional improvement in conducting 
the business of dairying. The old plan, and 
that on which most of the factories are now 
managed, is to make the factory a “joint 
stock affair ” among the farmers of a neigh¬ 
borhood, or perhaps one person will build a 
factory on his own account and manufac¬ 
ture the cheese at a certain rate per pound, 
the patrons in both instances holding the 
cheese in their own right and selling it from 
time to time in bulk together. Sometimes 
a committee of three is appointed to act as 
salesmen and sometimes only one person is 
entrusted with the sales. The salesman 
usually gets a small compensation for serv¬ 
ices. He may lie the factory manager or 
one of the patrons. The person or persons 
entrusted with the sale may be sharp busi¬ 
ness men, well acquainted with the trade or 
they may be otherwise. If they make a 
poor sale, it is the patrons’ loss. 
It will be seen that this system is some¬ 
what complicated, since it necessitates a 
division of the business into several separate 
branches and each branch requires a compe¬ 
tent. agent or manager, to secure which often 
takes more money lhau can well be afforded. 
Thus, for instance, there is the factory and 
its machinery to be seen to and kept in re¬ 
pair ; a cheese manufacturer of skill is to be 
employed; manufacturing supplies — salt, 
bandages, anatto, rennet and ice—are to be 
provided ; a competent salesman must be 
had, &c., &c. Now, if the establishments 
were organized on a plan by which the farm¬ 
er treats directly with the fuctory—that is 
to say, simply delivers his milk and gets his 
pay for it on some basis of highest values— 
there would evidently be an improvement in 
the system, because it would relieve the 
farmer from the machinery entailed on the 
several branches alluded to and there should 
be less liability to loss. This is the new plan 
or clymge to which we have referred at the 
commencement of this article. 
Responsible parties are now taking hold of 
factories and managing them as a business. 
The factories are owned and managed on the 
same principle as the manufactories of cot¬ 
ton, wool, iron, &c. The raw material or 
milk is purchased at the factory und the 
farmer has no further interest in it. The 
product manufactured is uuder the complete 
control of the proprietor of the factory. 
He disposes of it as he sees fit, either in the 
hornw or foreign market; and having a large 
quantity and being solely interested in the 
sales, he makes it his business to keep posted 
in regard to the markets, and consequently 
better prices are on the whole obtained. By 
having a sufficient number of factories to 
manage the party or parties owning the 
property hare a business that keeps them 
regularly employed, and of course the profits 
are sufficient to make it an inducement to 
manage all the details in the best maimer. 
Take, for instance, a company with 20 
factories. The supplies can be bought by 
one person and the cheese can be sold by one 
person with vastly more economy than on 
the old system, where from 20 to 40 persons 
are employed to do the work. Again, the 
manufacturer and help employed at the dif¬ 
ferent factories are all under the control of 
one head or one firm which is constantly 
overlooking their work, hence any error, 
waste or extravagance is quickly corrected 
by an executive that has the power of com- 
peling obedience at once without “dilly 
dallying’’ along with committees and waiting 
for the slow action of patrons, as on the old 
system, thus necessitating losses from in¬ 
ferior or damaged cheeses, as is often the 
case. In fine, it is attempted to apply the 
same principle of economy in massing fac¬ 
tories together as has been brought about in 
massing the farm dairies of a neighborhood 
together at one factory. 
Now let us see how this plan works, prac¬ 
tically, for the farmers ; for after all it must 
be observed if the farmers themselves are 
not to be benefited a change of system or 
management may be of doubtful utility. 
Recently, in our visit to Madison County, we 
met Mr. L. P. Baker of Earivilie, who gave 
us some account of 36 factories iu Madison 
and Chenango Counties managed on the new 
plan.“Three factories are owned by Mr. 
Baker, 11 factories by A. White & Co. and 
12 factories by W. T, IIatcu. In all these 
factories the milk is bought direct from the 
farmers. The price paid is two cents less 
than the highest quotations for “ fancy 
cheese” in New York City for every 10 
pounds of milk. In other words, it is assumed 
that 10 pounds of milk, on an average through 
the season, will make one pound of cheese. 
Hence if the best “ fancy cheese ” in New 
York City is quoted at 10 cents per pound 
the farmers are paid 14 cents for every ten 
pounds of milk delivered at the factory. 
The settlement is made the first of every 
month, and the average of the quotations 
during the month are taken. Thus, for in¬ 
stance, the May milk would be regulated by 
the June quotations, since if the May milk 
was made up on the old plan it would not 
get into market until June, and so on during 
the several months of the year. 
At this price it will be seen the farmers in 
effect only pay 2c. per pound for making the 
cheese and the furnishing of salt, bandages, 
anatto and boxes, also for the marketing of 
the cheese and its freight to New York. But 
it will be observed also that the price agreed 
upon is for the best, “ fancy cheese.” The 
price then would lie. the same as if a manu¬ 
facturer should say to the farmer: “You 
shall pay me at the rate of 2c. per pound and 
1 will agree to give you an average product 
of one pound of “ fancy cheese ” from every 
10 pounds of your milk and place it in New 
York City where it shall bring the very high¬ 
est price or equal to anything sold in that 
market. It must be evident that the farmers 
delivering milk at these factories are fortu¬ 
nate and realize more money than those de¬ 
livering milk at factories managed on the 
old plan—at least at those factories where 
cheese is made exclusively. 
But it may be asked how are these prices 
paid i We have alluded to the greater econ¬ 
omy in running the factories. Then there is 
the advantage of having a large amount of 
uniform quality controlled by one firm or 
person and thus better terms can be ob¬ 
tained. But in addition, something may be 
attributed to the management of the milk 
and the products made from it. 
Iu the factories named, butter to some 
extent, enters into the work. A certain 
amouut of cream is taken from the milk, but 
not enough to leave the milk so impover¬ 
ished that only an inferior cheese can be 
made from it. The aim is to take off about 
the quantity of cream that would, under or¬ 
dinary manipulation of the milk and curds, 
work away or pour off in the whey. This is 
made into butter which is of exceedingly fine 
flavor and quality. 
The process is to set the night’s milk in deep 
pails immersed iu pools of cold spring water, 
skimming on the following morning and 
adding the skimmed milk to the morning’s 
mess for cheese making. By this process up 
to the 1 st of September, on an average, one 
pound of butter is removed from 300 pounds 
of milk, and on an average it takes ll 
pounds of milk as it comes from the cow to 
make one of cheese. During the fall, us the 
milk becomes richer, or from the 1st of Sep¬ 
tember out, two and one-half pounds of but¬ 
ter are taken from 100 of milk. The cheese 
and butter are handled by one house in New 
York City, that of John S. MaRTI.n, and the 
cheese generally sells at a price very nearly 
or quite up to that obtained by the majority 
of factories. The sales this year up to .Sep¬ 
tember have averaged within 2c. per pound 
of the “ best fancy ” which goes to market. 
While the butter taken off sells for enough 
more to make up the difference or loss if any 
on this cheese and in addition gives a hand¬ 
some. profit to the proprietors of the fac¬ 
tories. In other words the business pays 
well for capital invested autl for labor em¬ 
ployed, besides leaving a handsome margin 
for risks and the accumulation of a “sinking 
fund.” 
We have had, tor three or four years past, 
a system whereby several factories have been 
run by one manager. But the instances are 
rare where the plan has been so perfected 
that the farmer obtains such a fair compen¬ 
sation for his milk or where the prices are so 
admirably adjusted. 
Iu order to show the advantages of selling 
a large quantity of cheese held by one maker, 
we may instance the recent sale (Oct. 10) 
of Mr. W. A. Johnson’s factories, in Erie 
Co. Mr. Johnson operates quite a number 
of factories hi the western part of the State. 
The sale is thus described by a correspond¬ 
ent of the Buffalo Courier, who says Sales¬ 
men representing over tea thousand boxes 
were present, and with them the usual num¬ 
ber of New York and Buffalo buyers, who 
did their best to “beat the market.” They 
had to present all manner of unfavorable 
reports as to the state of the markets, the 
future prospects and taking their story for 
it, things generally were in a wretched con¬ 
dition ; but salesmen took matters coolly and 
did not seem to realise, any such condition of 
affairs. At two o’clock Mr. Johnston an¬ 
nounced that he would offer the September 
make of his Marshfield and Collier’s factories 
consisting of 4,850 boxes, at station, cheese 
as they are, but weights guaranteed ; terms 
cash. Buyers now seemed to forget their 
blue talk of an hour previous. Mr. Wade 
started the. lot at 15L£e.; Campbell bid 
15%e„; Mr. Wade, 15%e.; Mills, L6c.; and 
no one raising this bid they were, struck off 
to Mr. Mills, agent of .T. S. Martin & Co. 
of New York. This the correspondent claims 
to be the largest sale of September cheese 
ever made by any one proprietor in the 
State, the cash value being $ 47 , 000 . 
Mr. Horton next offered the last lialf Sep¬ 
tember make of his Cloverlleld factories 2,200 
boxes ; terms of sale same as Johnson’s. 
Mr. Wade bid 15c.; Mr. John Greiner 
15.1 .c.; Campbell, 15%'c. ; Wade, 15% ; Hay¬ 
wood, 16«. Mr. Horton tried hard to get 
the bid raised, but no one oared to respond 
and the lot was sold to Mr. Haywood of 
Buffalo. These are large prices for the lo¬ 
cality and date of sale. 
Thus it will be seen that the new departure 
both as to running factories and the selling 
at auction promises to be a success. 
gusknirg. 
THE ANGORA GOAT. 
The two following letters explain them¬ 
selves, having reference to the article enti¬ 
tled "A SotlthweAt Virginia Sheep Walk,” 
on page 282 in Rural New-Yorker of Oct. 
81. This last note from Mr. Otis came after 
that article was printed and hence too late 
to eliminate what he has discovered was 
“not pertinent.” Mr. Finnie’s letter is in¬ 
teresting and wo gladly give it place : 
MR. FIHNIE S UTTER. 
Hazel Glen, (Brown Kill, P. O.,) i 
Wythe Co., Va„ Oct. #5,1874. 1 
My Dear Sir: — Your interesting letter 
and the very valuable documents accompany¬ 
ing it, were duly received, and have been 
read with avidity and with the interest a 
practical man always feels when dealing 
with practical matters of fact, treated by 
men who understand what they are writing 
about, and these papers bear that stamp and 
seal. 
I am glad to have my views of the Angora 
goat confirmed. * * * I have seen the 
little animal called the Cashmere or Angora 
goat, and I doubt the propriety of the appel¬ 
lation “Cashmere” to the animal as “Cash- 
mere or Angora goat” is a geographical 
absurdity. You might as well say “ Kamt- 
schatka or Texas goat,” for Angora, a prov¬ 
ince in Asia Minor, and Cashmere, a province 
of Northern Hindostnn, are almost as far 
apart as Kamtschatka is from Texas. 
It was my fortune in my early manhood, to 
have spent ten years in Europe, Africa and 
Asia, and while on the borders of Thibet, in 
the Himalaya Mountains, 1 saw the Thibet 
goat, an animal large enough to carry a man, 
sitting cross-legged on its back, smoking his 
opium pipe up and down the mountains. The 
fact is, there is no such animal as the Cash- 
mere goat (properly so-called.—H. G. 0.] 
The wealth and fame of Cashmere have 
greatly arisen from the manufactured shawls 
so celebrated in the fashionable world, the 
wool of which is not produced in the country 
but is brought from districts in Thibet lying 
at the distance of a month’s journey to the 
northeast. It (the wool) is originally of a 
dark gray color, and is bleached in Cashmere 
by the help of a preparation of rice flour. 
As you say, the raw material of Cashmere 
shawls is a down that is protected by the 
coarse, long, white hair of the goat bred ex¬ 
clusively in Thibet. Neither the Delhi em¬ 
perors, who made various efforts to intro¬ 
duce the breed of the shawl-goat into the 
upper provinces of India, nor the sovereigns 
of Persia have, ever been able to succeed in 
producing wool, or rather down, of equally 
fine quality with that of Thibet. The Persian 
shawl, from the wool of Kerman, comes 
nearer the Cashmere shawl than the English 
and French imitations. 
The specimen of Angora goat’s fleece which 
you sent me is really a very fine, silk-like 
commodity ; and now that 1 have learned so 
much of the animal that produces it, I am 
anxious to try the experiment of breeding 
them here ; unless our winters prove too 
severe for them, I believe they would succeed 
well. Our climate is not so cold as that of 
Washington, The sum in el’s here are delight¬ 
ful, the altitude making the best summer 
climate I ever saw, Italy not excepted, and 
very like the climate found on the table-lands 
of the Himalaya Mountains and the Neil' 
gherry Hills or Ghauts. 
1 am not personally so familiar with the 
climate of Asia Minor as to enable me to 
compare that with ours. Very truly and 
thankfully yours, T. T. Finnee. 
MR. OTIS' LETTER. 
Wasuinciton, D. C., Oct. 27,1874. 
Editor Rural New-Yorker: — The in¬ 
closed second letter of Mr. Thos. James Fin- 
nik, the Southeast Virginia flock - master, 
shows him to be well informed upon the two 
breeds of fleece-bearing goats about which 
lie writes—a fact which did not clearly appear 
from his first modest letter of inquiry—a copy 
of which was sent you under date of the 15th. 
My comment, therefore, upon that letter, 
viz. :—“ Mr. F. has fallen into the common 
errorof confounding these two breeds,” etc., 
etc., is rendered not pertinent by his last let¬ 
ter and may be omitted from the published 
article. I give you his letter, to be used in 
whatever form may best suit your purpose. 
Respectfully yours, 
Harrison Gray Otis. 
-■» t ♦ 
SHEEP IN TROUBLE. 
Hon. H. S. Randall :— 1 write von, as 
Editor of tlie Rural’s department of Sheep 
Husbandry in regard to a disease that occa¬ 
sionally attacks the sheep in this section. As 
an instance, I had a very fine Cotswold lamb 
that I noticed was slightly pale about the 
face and ears, had a slight cough and lagged 
behind the rest generally when going about. 
It. was taken soon after weaning und in about 
a month becoming unable to rise I killed it. 
The lungs were badly affected, dark around 
the edges and little lumps over the whole sur¬ 
face and the heart was like ft bladder, the 
strong muscular walls being apparently dis¬ 
solved. I never examined one before, but 
the general symptoms were about t he same 
as this one. 1 would like to know what the 
disease is, Its cause and remedy, if there is 
any; 
What is it causes a hard, chronic cough in 
sheep without the animal showing any other 
symptom of disease t Please give me what 
light on the subject you can and oblige—A 
Subscriber, Clark, Pa. 
(Mr. Randall’s ill health will prevent him 
replying to this correspondent. Perhaps some 
of our experienced shepherds will do so. 
Meantime, if our correspondent has Ran¬ 
dall’s “ Practical Shepherd,” let him turn 
to pages 825, 826 and 827, and we think he 
will find some suggestions that will help him 
in this matter.— Eds. Rural New-Yorker. 
--- - 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Combing Wools In Minnesota, —Messrs. 
Gibson & Tyler, Minneapolis, Miun., iu a 
letter to the Farmers’ Union, says :—“Since 
the introduction of Cotswold and Lineoln 
sheep into this State by Col. King, we have 
watched the effect of our climate upon this 
class of sheep, and every year has confirmed 
our opinion that our farmers can compete 
successfully with the best wool growers of 
England and Canada in the production of 
combing wool. We recently shipped to a 
leading wool house in Boston Col. Kiug’s 
clip of wool for 1874, and the following 
extract shows what is thought of it:—‘We 
have opened the combiug wool which you 
shipped us, and find it very desirable, equal 
in every way to English luster wool, sound, 
staple and well kept.’ We would state in 
this connection that we have handled his 
clip of wool for four years, and arc satisfied 
that it hus not deteriorated in any respect 
during that time.” 
The Ohio Wool Growers. — The ubove- 
nunied association held a meeting during the 
State Fair and passed resolutions strongly 
deprecating the re-establishment of reciproc¬ 
ity with Canada, affecting especially the 
long-wool sheep breeders. So long as we are 
burdened with taxes to pay the war debt 
and labor under the disadvantages incident 
to an all-paper currency, it is certainly unjust 
to expose so large an interest to foreign com¬ 
petition. Apian for a “Sheep Herd-Book” 
(why not call it a “Flock Register f”) was 
proposed by Mr. John H. Klip part, which 
did not meet with entire favor, so a commit¬ 
tee was appointed to submit a plan at the 
Annual Meeting in January. Are we not 
drawing this Herd-Book business rather too 
flue t We are talking now about Fig Herd- 
Books, Sheep Herd-Books and Chicken Herd- 
Books. What next or what not ? 
Parsley for Sheep.— A correspondent of 
the Toronto (Canada) Globe recommends the 
sowing of parsley among his grass and saying 
it is the best food for sheep there is—“ Keeps 
them healthy and fattens tlmm with wonder¬ 
ful rapidity.” 
Sheep in Colorado—Mr. Kenyon of Can¬ 
non City, Colorado, who has a flock of 4,000 
head, lias made a hardy and greatly im¬ 
proved sheep out of Mexican ewes, by cross¬ 
ing thorn with Cotswold bucks. The next 
cross gives a capital grade Cotswold, im- 
i proved both in fleece and carcass. 
