THE DAIRY AND DAIRY MATTERS.

FRAGMENTS INCLUDING DAIRYING IN THE NORTH-WEST.

By M. W. OLIVER, Member from Crawford county.

After miraculously increasing the nutritive power of the five loaves and a few small fishes to an amount sufficient to satisfy the hunger of the thousands who had gathered to hear and be healed, the greatest teacher and wisest counsellor that ever lived upon the earth, said to his disciples: "Gather up the fragments that remain. " Why? That they might have them to satisfy their hunger on the morrow? No! That they might sell them in the market? No! The simple reason was "that nothing be lost." In these four simple words "that_nothing be lost," is a mine of untold worth. This, in short, answers the question, Why are fragments worth saving? Because they have a value and therefore should not be lost. We are often assured that no particle of matter under Divine supervision is ever lost." If this be true, then certainly no fragment of any kind under human control should be lost, because it has value, the amount of which is to be determined by circumstances. In the fragments which the disciples were commanded to gather up there must have been a value, or He who understood the relation of things, one to another, perfectly, would never have given this command.

It is sometimes said "Life is made up of fragments. If this be true, may it not be well for us as farmers, dairymen, or men of any other calling, to consider for a few moments, at least, some of the fragments which we are losing, but which if gathered up and put to proper use, would represent a value of no small amount. Among the many fragments lost are fragments of time. of material, of force, of energy, of experience, of opportunity and of moral character. So inseparable are these, the one from the other, that any waste of one involves waste of another, therefore the consideration of these must go hand in hand together.

The engineer who puts on more steam than is necessary to insure his safe arrival at a certain point at the required time wastes not only water and fuel but the wear of machinery, and more than this, the nerve power of the passengers also. He who loses fragments of the early morning, the most valuable time of all the day, thinking he can regain it before night, generally fails in his calculation, for late rising, on the farm at least, causes irritability and with it a general uncomfortableness during the entire day. The farmer starts hurriedly to the field, to find that he has left some important article at the house or at the barn; a fragment of time is lost in returning for it, and with it a fragment of opportunity and of strength. How many fragments of opportunity are lost? One writer has said: "Tell me what a farmer does with his so-called leisure hours and days of winter, and he can, in some measure, predict his success in the busy days, seed time and harvest." Winter is the time for planning, as the summer is the season on execution. Winter is the time for thought, as the summer is the season for carrying thought into action. It is the way that farmers open their winters that makes them long or short

headed. It is he who carries in thought one season over to the next that makes his ends meet and lap. It is he who sees the end from the beginning, who works from the beginning towards that end. Every farmer should sow every crop and harvest every grain field while the soil is bound in the icy fetters of winter, and the seed from which that crop is to spring is still in his granary. He should plan his whole coming season's agricultural campaign during the long winter evenings, so that when the spring opens he may put his forces into the field and lead them wisely and well. As the great farmer, soldier and father of his country has said: "In time of peace prepare for war." Fragment of experience in the feeding of stock,especially young stock, is sadly allowed to go to waste. Especially is this true during the winter months. Too many keep their young stock through the winter months without gaining, by furnishing them with the food of support only. It is to lose entirely the winter's food and care, besides the permanent injury to the animals, by stunting them in their growth in some degree, and from which they are rarely able to recover fully, and even if they do so, it takes a considerable portion of the next summer's food to accomplish it. English farmers have for some years been reducing the age at which to market beef, and have so far succeeded that much of their stock is now sold at from twelve to twentyfour months old, and it has been found quite satisfactory to both dealers and consumers. Their experience, together with the successful feeders in our country is, that early maturing stock with full feeding from birth, and marketed at the age above mentioned is where the greatest profit lies. It has been demonstrated time again that a pound of flesh can be put on an animal at less cost during the first twelve months of its existence than at any subsequent time, and that the cost increases month by month. The production of this young beef should command the attention of our farmers, for if it pays in England it ought, with our facilities, to show good returns here. To make the largest amount of beef, pork, or mutton, in the shortest possible space of time, and also the biggest pile of manure, should be the aim of every farmer. It is the road to his success.

The winter feeding of stock is a question of the highest importance to the farmer and dairyman, and one on which more definite information is desirable. The opinions and practices of feeders vary so greatly, even in the same section, that nothing seems to be settled that will be applicable to all sections. The relative cost of food and labor will in some parts of the country be the pivot upon which the question will turn, and each farmer, from his own standpoint, must by careful study and experimenting decide what is best for him in his situation. Nevertheless, there are some general principles that govern it, and are applicable everywhere and under all circumstances. Prof. Cameron well says: "A knowledge of the kind and quantity of food required by animals may be gathered from the composition of the several parts of the animal body and a study of the functions they perform. The muscles must be sustained, therefore gluten, albumen, etc., popularly called muscular matter must be eaten. The fat of the body must be renewed, therefore fat should be represented in the food, and as much carbon escapes from the lungs and skin, it seems natural and necessary that starch or sugar should be introduced into the stomach with a view of supplying it. The minerals of the flesh, blood and bones must be in like manner provided." This is essentially true; and just here is where science comes to our aid, in showing us

by analysis the constituent properties of cattle foods and their equivalents; showing how to combine albuminoids with fat forming elements and minerals with proper proportions to obtain the best results; and at the same time a great saving may be made in some kinds of food which would be fed to excess, while that actually required to make a well balanced food, might be, without this knowledge, unwittingly withheld. Many dairymen have been a long time in learning, while some have not yet discovered the fact, that the best butter ration must have a larger proportion of albuminoids or nitrogenous food than for the production of quantity of milk. Clover is one of the most nitrogenous of our fodders, and should, therefore, be more generally grown by our dairymen. Warmth and shelter are large factors that enter into the question of winter feeding and care of dairy cows, as well as all animals, insomuch as the animal system is, like a steam engine and boiler, continually consuming fuel in the shape of food to keep the animal machine in working order. Just how much heat is the equivalent of food is, of course, not certainly known. Experts estimate the saving at one-quarter. However wide or close this estimate may be, as to the truth, there is no one point more generally admitted among dairymen than the fact that cows exposed to the rigors of winter will not do as well as those properly cared for and comfortably housed.

But I was to say something about dairying in the north-western part of the State. Its history is not unlike that of other portions of the country. Crawford county is comparatively a new country, or more particularly the western half of it. The first female white child born in this half of the county is still living, and is not yet an hundred years old; so that in some portions of the State, as well as in other States, dairying had made some progress and was being carried on somewhat as a specialty, while as yet this part of the country, and, I may add, a considerable portion of the North-west, was unimproved. When we review the history of dairying we are surprised at the wonderful progress which it has made. It was not till 1857 that the associated system of dairying was given birth. Since then its peculiar features have been spread over the entire continent. This system of dairying has given rise to the establishment of dairy associations and a literature for the dairy, and we find that for the decade from 1855 to 1865 the question of milk and its products began to be more thoroughly investigated and to be treated in a scientific manner. During this period the manufacture of cheese was becoming shaped into a regular system and our dairy products assumed a uniformity hitherto unknown to the dairies of America. During the year 1864 and 1865 the price of cheese went up to what was considered to be an extraordinary figure, while the factory system commended itself more and more to old dairymen, and the plan was found to be especially adapted for introducing the dairy into new districts. In 1859 the total exports of American cheese were only 9,287,000 pounds, but in 1861 they had risen to 40,141,000, and in 1864 to 49,755,842 pounds, a quantity at that time thought by many to be near the limit of our production. 1859 the average price of cheese was in New York city eight and one. half cents; but in 1861 it had dropped to seven cents, while in 1864 it had risen to fifteen and one-half cents. Butter brought in 1859 eighteen cents, in 1861 fourteen cents and then advanced to twentyfour cents in 1864. The period from 1865 to 1875 is known throughout the United States as flush times."

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It was a period of inflation. Men "made haste to get rich." The wildest schemes of speculation were inaugurated. Money was squandered recklessly in all kinds of extravagance. Fictitious values were put upon all kinds of property, personal and real, and many, instead of paying debts, invested their surplus earnings in railroad bonds and stocks, which, in a short time, proved worthless, and in this way many millions of dollars were wiped out. In many parts of the country good dairy farms were not infrequently considered a bargain at from $100 to $200 per acre. Persons with a few thousands of dollars were often eager to purchase dairy farms at high prices, and they, in consequence, became hopelessly involved. Cheese in 1865 had risen to an average price of twenty cents per pound, and it continued to bring from sixteen to eighteen cents until 1872, when it dropped to thirteen and one-half, the lowest point during this decade. But it advanced to fourteen and one-quarter in 1873 and to fourteen and three-quarters in 1874. It was during this decade that butter factories and creameries began to attract attention and to spring up in widely separated localities. Fancy butter not infrequently was sold at a dollar per pound. The average price of butter in New York in 1865 was forty-five cents per pound. In 1866 and 1867 it was but thirty cents. In 1868 it was again forty-five cents, when it gradually declined to it lowest pricefifteen cents-in 1872. It closed the decade at twenty-seven cents. It was during this decade that the associated dairy system was carried to Canada, being first established at Ingersoll in 1867; and all through this decade it was largely patronized at its annual conventions, receiving aid from the government. In this decade, also, dairy associations were established in the Eastern States, in Ohio and Illinois, and in the North-west, and the annual conventions brought out large numbers of persons to attend the meetings, the gatherings not unfrequently numbering 500 persons. By the published reports of these conventions, and by books on the dairy, as well as writings in the agricultural papers, dairy literature began to take prominence and to compare favorably with that of any branch of farm industry. It seems hardly necessary to speak of our increased production and the commercial history of the dairy during the past ten years. It is fresh in the mind of every one engaged in this interest. Dairymen have felt at times the extreme pressure of low prices; at other times they have felt to congratulate themselves on the fair prices obtained for their goods. For a considerable portion of this decade, however, the result has been that neither producer or buyer has made much money to boast of. Our dairying in the north-western portion of the State is unlike yours here in the eastern, in that ours (associated dairying) is the production of cheese, while yours is the making of butter.

The first factory built in the North-west was in 1865, and within five years thereafter in the counties of Erie, Crawford and Mercer, there were nearly one hundred factories in active operation, each receiving the milk of from 200 to 600 cows, some factories making daily from twenty to twenty-six cheeses of an average weight of sixty pounds. This industry gave a new impetus to the clearing up of our lands, and, while we have considerable of wood lands yet remaining, we have no more than will be sufficient to meet the demands for fuel and building purposes-not much more than what the sanitary laws should demand in every part of the State. At first the factory system had much to contend with. Some patrons seemed to think that anything bearing the name of milk was good enough to take to the factory, and then

some of the factorymen had never learned that "cleanliness was next to Godliness," much less had they learned that cleanliness was essential to the making of good cheese. Hence, when a factoryman who did demand good milk rejected some that was unfit to work up, he quite likely lost a patron, which patron was gladly accommodated at another factory not so scrupulously clean and exacting. Patron and factoryman alike had to be educated. They found their interests were not dissimilar, but that they were in common. Factorymen found their goods had to be sold, if sold at all, upon their merit, hence the importance of attaining as near perfection as possible in their make of cheese to secure the top prices, and thereby give satisfaction to their patrons. The wide margin of difference in price between strictly fine butter and cheese and the lower grades, as quoted in the market reports, was a sufficient evidence of this fact. Though the establishment. of this associated system of dairying was during the "flush times," yet the fact became patent that it did not pay to manufacture anything but the best article; that all inferior goods were manufactured at a loss. It became, therefore, the interest of the producer to inquire into the causes of the production of so large a quantity of inferior goods, the result of which was that each patron was required to give special care to his milk pails and cans; see that they were thoroughly cleansed and scalded; thoroughly brush the cow's udder and clean it of all foul matter, and under no circumstances to allow the cow's teats to be wet with the milk for the purpose of softening or cleaning them. This is a very filthy habit and should never be allowed. The cows were not to be hurried or worried by dogs in driving, and if perchance the cow sometimes became heated, she should be left unmilked till she has cooled off and gotten over the excitement. Should the cow be ailing or out of condition, her milk should go to the swill barrel rather than to endanger a whole vat of milk. In fact, the patron was to do everything he could to secure to the cheese-maker good, sweet, pure, wholesome milk. He should never leave his cans in the barn while milking or over night. It will almost invariably taint the milk. The patron should also demand from the factory man the utmost care and neatness in all his work. These are some of the general rules which are being insisted upon in the handling of milk. In the increased make of dairy products, the market can find no place for inferior sorts at anything like living prices to the producer. They are, and will be in the future, slow of sale, if not next to unsalable. The demand is for fine goods, and that demand must be met, and it will be met by those who have resolved upon standing firmly by the dairy industry; who are intelligent as to its needs, and who have faith in its future prosperity. With a uniformity of fine goods, both in the home and foreign markets, consumption may be so promoted and increased that our dairy industry will again be lifted into a highly prosperous condition.

OUR DAIRY INDUSTRIES.

By EASTBURN REEDER, member from Bucks county.

Agriculture is the foundation industry, not only of the State and the nation, but of the world. It is the most ancient and the most important of industries. It was Washington who said: "Agriculture is the