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ther west, rot, mildew, early frosts, and rose bugs. The destruction by insects and mildews is largely the result of poor cultivation and lack of care.

The following, condensed from Bulletin XIX., August, 1890, of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y., may be of interest and value to grape growers in this State:

"We warn our readers not to put faith in statements that certain varieties of grapes are exempt from diseases, for some of the most serious cases which we have seen this year were noticed upon a variety which has been said to be free from attack.

The advent of rots and mildews is not a cause for alarm. They are to be expected, and they will undoubtedly spread. But the means are at hand to keep them in check easily and economically. The mildews and rots can be kept in check by the timely and persistent use of Bordeaux mixture. Begin before the flowers open, and spray every week or ten days until well into August. For anthracnose (the fungus which causes the scab of the berry and on the wood causes black, shallow pits), sulphate of iron applied before the leaves appear is probably the best remedy. After treatment should be made with Bordeaux mixture."

Experiments have shown that girdling the grape vine makes a decided gain in the time of ripening of the fruit; that there is no loss of sugar, and that the increased size of the fruit makes it very attractive, and more than makes up for any increased softness of the berry.

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY IN MASSACHU

SETTS.

From Bulletin No. 6, Crop Report for October, 1890.

An idea of the extent and importance of the dairy industry is gained when it is considered that, according to the census of 1885, of the $47,756,033 worth of agricultural products, $13,080,526, or 27.39 per cent, were classed as dairy products; while hay, straw and fodder came second, with $11,631,776, or 24.36 per cent; and vegetables third, with $5,227,194, or 10.95 per cent. Of the dairy products, milk represented $10,312,762, or 21.60 per cent; butter, $2,531,071, or 5.30 per cent; cream, $202,706, or 0.42 per cent; and cheese, $33,987, or 0.07 per cent. Adding the value of the dairy products classified as food preparations in the volume of manufactures, the aggregate swells to a round $13,250,000.

The following table, compiled from the census of 1885 (agriculture), will illustrate the growth of this industry during the forty years from 1845 to 1885 inclusive. To this table are also added statistics from the same source, relative to beef and veal:

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In the column for 1885 are included the total quantity and value of milk at the price of new milk, the total quantity and value of cream sold or used as cream, and the total quantity and value of butter and cheese made on farms.

The number and value of the animals associated with the dairy industry is important in this connection; and it is found that the census of 1885 gives the number of milch cows on farms as 162,847, valued at $6,156,130; and the number of other bovine animals as 99,339, valued at $2,331,852; or a total of 262,186 animals, valued at $8,487,982.

In the aggregates of polls, property, taxes, etc., as assessed May 1, 1885, the number of cows is given as 167,817, and the number of neat cattle other than cows as 57,044, or a total of 224,861; while the number as assessed May 1, 1889, is found to be 192,307 cows and 63,884 neat cattle other than cows, or a total of 256,191.

According to the census of 1885, the value of the manure made on farms is given as $3,090,189; and it is estimated that not less than $2,000,000 of this amount can be credited to the dairy industry. Also, the production of pork is given as 16,546,752 pounds, valued at $1,063,180; and the making of this pork to a large extent depends upon the use of the so-called wastes of the dairy.

From the table it would appear that from 1875 to 1885 cheese fell off apparently nearly three-fourths as regards quantity. This is a fact, no doubt, as regards the farm ; but the statistics of manufactures, under which heading cheese is now returned as a food preparation, show that this decrease in quantity is due largely to a change rather from agriculture to manufactures. In the volume on manufactures we find credited under food preparations 613,087 pounds of cheese, valued at $65,491; which, added to the amount reported as made on farms, swells the aggregate to 972,211 pounds, valued at $99,478.

In Massachusetts the first cheese factory went into operation in April, 1864. Under a call signed by Dwight Ellis of Warren and a few others, a meeting was held in West Brookfield, Feb. 1, 1866, at which the Massachusetts Cheese Manufacturers' Association was formed. At this meeting four factories reported having made an aggregate of 364,178

pounds of cheese during the season of 1864, the net price of which was $19.60 per hundred pounds. During 1865 eleven factories were in operation, -some of them, however, only a short time, - and the same number in 1866.

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In the latter year nine of them reported an aggregate capital invested of $44,866.57; that the whole amount of milk was 10,604,518 pounds, from which was made 1,072,705 pounds of cheese, which brought to the farmers, after paying all expenses, $175,240.62. Early in 1869 it was reported that there were not less than twenty factories in successful operation in Massachusetts. Ten of these reported an aggregate of 1,095,850 pounds of cheese made in 1868. The aggregate capital in 1871 of thirteen factories was reported as about $60,000; that 10,233,450 pounds of milk were used and 948,876 pounds of cured cheese produced. Of these factories the New Braintree led, with an invested capital of $9,000; using 1,679,351 pounds of milk, making 165,552 pounds of cured cheese, yielding a net income of $10.71 per hundred pounds. It is impossible at the present time to state the date when this association was dissolved. "The organization had its inception at the time of the introduction of the factory system of making cheese. The factory at Brimfield and the South Factory at Barre started the same year, and were the first in the New England States to adopt the system. It was a new era in the dairy business. The meetings of the association lasted two days and one evening, with lectures from the best then known speakers, very much such meetings as the Board now hold. Probably they were a stimulus to the Board, and, indirectly, the mother of farmers' institutes;' and they only ceased when the Board and institutes took up the work, and the selling of milk became better than cheese-making with Canada to compete with."

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The exact number of cheese factories now in operation in the Commonwealth is not known, but it is believed there are but four. Returns from a portion of these only have been received. It is estimated, however, that these factories in 1889 made about 150,000 pounds of cheese, using some 1,750,000 pounds of milk, and netting about 9 cents per pound. In Boston the last seven months the wholesale

price of best cheese has ranged from 9 cents to 12 cents per pound; and the retail price of old cheese has ranged from 19 cents to 20 cents, and new cheese from 10 cents to 16 cents per pound.

In the census of 1885 (manufactures) the product of creamery butter is given as 7,800 pounds, valued at $2,700, and the amount of butter not specified as 189,545 pounds. Most of the twenty-seven co-operative creameries (or butter factories) now making butter were established since this census was taken, and returns to this office in January last from the twenty-four then in operation gave the amount of butter made in 1889 as 2,193,983 pounds, selling at an average price of about 26 cents per pound, or an aggregate of some $570,000.

There are also three co-operative milk associations, making butter from their surplus milk; and in 1889 it is estimated that they made some 135,000 pounds. Considerable butter is also made by milk contractors from surplus milk. Probably the amount of butter made on farms has been somewhat lessened by the establishment of co-operative creameries, but it is impossible to state to what extent.

As illustrative of the condition of the butter market in Boston during the past six months, the following compilation from the market reports of the "New England Farmer" is given:

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MAY 1. Butter market remains in good, healthy condition. Arrivals of choice fresh creamery taken as fast as they arrive. It is estimated that last year's business shows 50,000 tubs as an actual surplus over consumption, which was the cause of the great depression in the market which was so marked during January and February. The bulk of this was sold at great loss to the holders. The market reporter of the Boston Journal" states that the money lost by Boston butter men during the last twelve months must have been not less than $100,000. Prices quoted : Wholesale. Extra creamery, 20 and 21 cents; firsts and extra firsts, 15 and 19 cents; New England dairy, 12 and 16 cents. Retail. Print, 28 and 30 cents; best tub, 25 and 28 cents; good tub, 15 and 18 cents.

JUNE 1. For the first time this spring, butter has begun to accumulate this week, which makes the market very weak and shaky. The quality of the butter coming in is improving. Prices

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