6 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 
list with 854,156. The whole number in the United States for the same time bei 
12,580,907. 
The increase of cows in the State of New York for the decade prior to 1880, v 
87,194, while for the same time it was 225,592 in this State. Taking the same ratio 
annual increase for the last two years and it would give Illinois to-day 911,031 co\ 
In a speech by the Hon. H. G. Davis, of West Virginia, in the Senate of the Unit 
States in 1879, in speaking of butter and cheese, he says “ this is an important far: 
ing and agricultural interest which has not hitherto attracted the attention it deserv 
and one that is fast growing in our country. It is estimated that last year (1878) t 
total production of cheese was 350,000,000 pounds, and of butter 1,500,000,000 pound 
estimated value of both being about $350,000,000. This is the contribution of the wh(| 
country, and is the leading agricultural interest next to corn, which for the sameyel 
was, in total value, $480,643,000. The wheat crop for the same year being valued I 
$300,696,000, and the cotton $215,000,000.” 
Mr. X. A. Willard, formerly of Little Falls, N. Y., a gentleman well posted 
dairy matters in this country (hut who, I regret to say, now sleeps in the silent gravl 
in a letter to Dr. A. S. Heath of New York city, dated December 30, 1880, says tt 
the total annual value of all the items in 1875 from the dairy farmers of the State] 
think will figure more than $100,000,000, to say nothing of the surplus hay and gr.i 
raised and sold by the dairymen of the State. The dairymen as a class are the be' 
educated in their business, as well as the most enterprising of any class of farmers! 
the State. ] 
Now assuming that the foregoing statement of Mr. Willard is correct, and taki; 
that, together with the relative number of dairy cows in this State as compared wi 
that of New York, it would give to Illinois in i880 a total value of $60,215,598, and] 
1882 in round numbers over $75,000,000 from all the items of the dairy farmers. The 
figures look large for an industry inaugurated only about a dozen years ago. But j 
you will please figure the milk produced by those 911,031 cows on an average of tJ 
cents per gallon, you will find it alone will reach the snug sum of about $50,000,0( 
If this be correct then the above statement is not an over-estimate for all the items 
the dairy farmers of Illinois for 1882. 
In giving the above I do not wish to mislead any one. The dairymen have mar 
drawbacks, and have to watch their bank accounts closely in order to figure a gai 
He has many bills to pay promptly, and first of all is that to the cow of his dairy, s 
neveL trusts, but must have full pay twice every day or the lacteal fluid will cease 
flow. 
Any man or men wishing to embark in the dairy business should quietly sit dov 
and figure the cost with profit or loss before he enters the arena of the dairy circl 
The question has often been asked: k ‘ What interests have the people of the southei 
portion of this State in dairy farming?” Well, let us see. It is a well demonstrafi 
fact that the cow of the dairy only lasts about six or eight years. Now to keep up tl 
supply of the dairy requires the annual raising of over 100,000 cows. If breeds suitab 
for the dairy were sought and raised in the southern portion of the State they cou 
readily be sold to dairymen who heretofore have obtained their supply largely fro 
Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri. Each of these Slates are now largely engaged in tl 
dairy business themselves, and will require all their cows to keep up the supply i 
their districts, and Illinois will have to look elsewhere in the future for her supply. 
Then again in the dairy districts of the State there is not a sufficient amount* 
wheat raised to bread the people, therefore the supply must be drawn from other se 
tions. And of other cereals not enough is raised to feed the stock, consequently laq 
amounts of bran are annually purchased in Minnesota and elsewhere for the use 
the dairies in this State. This bran mixed with corn meal makes very good food f( 
milch cows, but not equal to corn and oats ground together. The southern portion» 
this State raises vast amounts of both these cereals, which ought to be used in In 
dairy districts, thereby creating a home market for the same, which is usually if m 
invariably the best market for the farmer. 
A few dairymen in this State have conceived the idea that dairy farming is beir 
overdone in the United States and especially so in this State. These individuals start 
aloof from dairy conventions, and do not favor publications on the subject which ma 
tend to instruct others in this branch of agriculture. This, to my mind, is a narrow 
selfish view, fit only to be harbored in the brain of a barbarous or half-civilized con 
munity. This is virtually lighting the taper and placing it under the bushel. 
Great is the man who conceives an idea of lasting benefit, but far nobler is he wh 
conceives an idea of vast importance to the human family, and places it in such 
situation that all who choose may profit by it. Suppose for instance that our pr< 
genitors (whether man, monkey, or owl) and their descendants, down to the preset 
generation, had suppressed all their thoughts within the cranium where lay the brai 
that originated them, what would be the state of advancement of the civilized worl 
at the present time ? 
