ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. i 3 
or factorymen of Illinois. The manufacture of butter and 
cheese in Illinois must be largely on the increase if we are 
allowed to judge by the reported sales of this season as 
compared with former seasons on the Elgin Board of Trade. 
The present season is far in excess of that of any other 
year since the organization of said Board. 
Some three j^ears ago a committee was appointed by 
the convention for the purpose of petitioning the legisla¬ 
ture for the enactment of a law placing the Illinois Dairy¬ 
men’s Society on a standing with the Horticultural 
Society and other like associations of the state; also to 
establish an experimental dairy station for the benefit of the 
dairymen of Illinois. This committee made a report last 
year and was continued another year. The legislature not 
having been convened during the past year we presume 
the committee will have but little progress to report. 
If Illinois had had such a station in successful opera¬ 
tion the present season it no doubt would have saved the 
manufacturers of dairy products thousands of dollars in 
the few experiments made by them this season in trying to 
better their cheese so as to realize a larger dividend for the 
dairymen who produced the milk for them to make up. 
In conclusion we would say that the old year is about 
to depart leaving us with a fair market and no accumulation 
of strictly gilt-edge butter or prime cheese on hand. The 
inception of the new year will then find us with a market 
open and ready to receive and pay a fair price for strictly 
prime goods. 
This being the case it stands the producers of milk in 
hand together with the factorymen to look closely to the 
articles which they are about to put upon the market the 
coming season. The time must soon come when dairy 
products will be sold strictly on their merits. It is highly 
important to dairymen that an article sufficiently good in 
quality be made to'recommend itself to the people of our 
country as a wholesome and valuable article of food for the 
many. 
It is a well established fact that the people of our 
country only consume about 4^ pounds of cheese per 
