10 
ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 
commission. The long lines, of which there are several in this and 
Herkimer counties, are still resolutely held above the current market, with 
some talk of storing for sale in February. And speaking of butter it says : 
We are informed that in the southern part of Chenango county hardly a 
tenth of the season’s make has gone forward, and the farmers have scarcely 
money enough to pay their taxes. Certainly there are great quantities now 
in the hands of butter makers, and this causes solicitude. We are quite of 
the opinion that holding butter has proceeded too far and unwisely.” I am 
of the opinion the above state of things does not exist in this State, nor will 
they ever exist as long as the Elgin Board of Trade is made the great clearing 
house of dairy products. This Board has been of great value to the dairy¬ 
men of this State in the disposal of their products, and should be sustained 
by all our dairymen as well as those who transact business on its Board. I 
would here suggest to the producers of milk, if they would adopt the method 
of selling their milk on Boards, the same as other dairy products, they would 
have the benefit of competiton among buyers. This could be done by fixing 
on a certain day in the spring and fall for the sale of milk. I hope this 
thought will be discussed at this or some future meeting. 
In conclusion, gentlemen, allow me to congratulate you on the progress 
made during the year towards a state of perfection in the manufacture of 
butter and cheese and the bright prospect before you for the coming year. 
D. F. Barclay, of Elgin, delivered an address as follows on “ The Past and 
Future of the Dairy Interests of Elgin.” 
ADDRESS OF D. F. BARCLAY. 
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Illinois Dairy Association: 
By perusing the past history of the dairy interest of our State, and 
analyzing if possible the causes that have brought about the present pros¬ 
perous condition of this important branch of husbandry, we can best judge 
of what its future may be. Only twenty years have passed since the first 
can of milk was shipped to Chicago, but in those twenty years a complete 
revolution has been wrought in the agriculture of the northern portion of 
our State. 
In the early settlement of the country the attention of the farmer was 
entirely devoted to grain raising. Wheat was cash and the only product of 
the farm that could be sold for money, and well did the virgin soil of Illinois 
repay the pioneer. Abundant crops rewarded him for his labor, and 
although the price was low, because of the very abundance, the early settler 
was enabled to pay for his farm and looked forward to better times and 
better prices in the future. But constant cropping with grain began to tell 
upon the soil, and as time passed the crops became lighter each succeeding 
year, while it became apparent that raising wheat did not pay, and many 
began to believe that farming in Northern Illinois did not and never would 
pay. 
