EXHIBITION OF 18()8. 
431 
Europe and America was the largest ever known, it was not beyond a healthy 
consumptive demand, while the product both of butter and cheese this year— 
on account of the severe drouth in Great Britain, it is thought, will be much 
less than what is really needed. 
The history of Eastern farming goes to show that no character of farmlands 
has increased in value in the ratio of that in the dairy districts. I am not 
prepared to say whether this rule holds good at the West, but the time will 
come, I apprehend, when the dairy lands of Wisconsin—location and other 
things being equal—will command the most money. 
In making this comparison, farming lands, in the ordinary acceptation of 
the term, are meant. 
Lands covered with hop plantations, with vineyards or orchards, or in the 
vicinity of cities, when market gardening is in successful operation, owe 
much of their value to their improvements, and cannot, therefore, be counted 
in the comparison. 
It is alleged that the true grazing dairy lands are more valuable than 
grain lands, because: 1st. They are of more limited extent. 2d. The 
grasses have fewer enemies to contend with, and give the most reliable 
results for any series of years. 3d. That dairy farms can be carried on at 
less expense ; that they are constantly increasing in fertility; that the pro 
ducts of the dairy are earlier and more readily turned into cash; that the 
product of the farm is concentrated into a small compass, and hence the cost 
of transportation is reduced to the minimum; and, lastly, that an increased 
and permanent foreign demand renders prices stable, so that the dairy farmer 
can nearly always count upon the income from his farm. 
The Herkimer County, N. Y., farmers claim that there has not been a fail¬ 
ure in the grass crop of the county for thirty years—that is, that during that 
time, there has been no necsssity for turning olf the herds for want of pas¬ 
turage, nor the importation of hay or fodder for their winter keep. 
For the last twenty years I have had personal observation of the cheese 
crop of the county, and in no year has it failed, though of course some sea¬ 
sons have been marked as giving below the average yield, but none so 
markedly poor as to be called a failure. 
I have referred to the claim that the labor expense on a dairy farm is less 
than that for grain. I have known of many instances wheji one man and 
one woman have done all the work on a farm carrying 30 cows, except the 
employment of an additional hand for a couple of months in haying and har¬ 
vesting. 
The more usual course among those who rent farms carrying from 30 to 40 
cows, is to hire a man for six or eight months, perhaps a girl for the same 
time in the house, if the wife is not str ong, and cheese making is to be con¬ 
ducted on the farm. I cannot say that this is always the best course, or 
that more profits might not be secured by a judicious outlay of more manual 
labor. I only mention the fact to show that an hundred acres in pasture and 
fifty acres in meadow are managed with less labor than if the same were de 
voted to other crops than grass. 
