The system of preparing cheese for market at twenty days old is a most pernicious system, and is the source of fearful losses to American dairymen every year. It is admissible only when you know where to place your goods, and that they are to go into immediate consumption. In 1866, while in England, I saw the result of such manufacture in numerous instances; cheese that came in good condition, and if sold at once would command 76s., in a week's time so fell off in flavor that it went begging at 50s.

I know that American dairymen and American dealers often boast of our system, because we can make cheese that is so soon ready for market that the shelves can be cleaned from month to month; but they do not couple it with the fact that much of our cheese sells in England for 30s. to 40s. per cwt., and even less. Some one loses on these goods, for no cheese of good flavor, that can be held, would be sold at such a fearful loss. I think the American method of curing cheese is grossly defective, and it is upon this point that we need the application of science, and the genius of inventors.

It will not do to take the chances of the weather in a climate so variable as ours. Our intensely hot summers must be counteracted in some way in the curing house, and, if we really set about it, we can overcome the difficulty, and the time when this should be done is now right upon us. I believe that a good many old curing-houses could be improved by building around on the inside wall, leaving six or eight inches space between it and the present wall, and by arranging double windows. It has been suggested that saw-dust or some non-conducting substance, be placed between the walls. I saw something of this kind last winter in Ohio. It was a store-house for keeping late-made cheese, after it was cured, during the winter. Messrs. Howe & Warner, at Wellington, have a store-house of this description, where, on the 24th of January, 1872, they had over 10,000 cheeses stored in boxes, and, though the weather had been intensely cold, no trouble was had from frost.

I am inclined to think that the plan of dry or well ventilated cellars or basements could be adopted, so that a low, even temperature in hot weather may be secured at little expense and trouble. I would have such basement under the whole dryhouse, at least six or eight feet below the surface of the ground. The walls should rise above the ground three or four feet, so as to give an abundance of sunlight throughout the whole. I would have the rooms ten or twelve feet high in the clear, and the bottom should be thoroughly underdrained. Then, the floor should be grouted and covered with cement or flagging so that no water could enter from without, or the accumulation of slops be possible. Ventilators with wickets should be arranged leading to the roof. The trouble with under-ground structures or basements as curing-rooms is, that often no attention is paid to drainage or ventilation, and hence, in such cases, they make very imperfect curing-rooms. But on the plan I have proposed, these objections would be obviated. Then, if necessary, waste water from the ice house may be conducted in metal pipes along the ceiling, and the cool air falling from these would preserve a low temperature in the

room.

Mechanics with whom I have consulted affirm that cold spring water, flowing in large metal pipes along the ceiling, and then out of the building, where it may be utilized for other purposes, would be sufficient to reduce the temperature to 70° or below, even in the hottest weather. Hot-water pipes, arranged about the room and connected with the boiler, would be the best means of raising the temperature in cool weather, when heat was required. I do not pretend to give the best plans, but I offer suggestions by which the hot weather cheese may be kept in flavor until fall, or such time as it may be sold, at not much expense in the way of curing-rooms.

I wish I could convince you of the great importance of having properly constructed curing-rooms, where good ventilation and a low even temperature may be maintained. And

I speak to you from no mere theoretical standpoint, but from well-conducted experiments in my own daily practice. Some years ago I built a farm dairy-house with curing-room in the second story. Even with the floor, on two sides of this room, were openings through the sides of the building,-five on a side,-provided with wickets, so as to regulate the quantity of air to be admitted as desired.

In the center of the room was a large ventilator running from the ceiling up above the roof of the building, also provided with a wicket for regulating the air. Here I experimented from time to time in the curing of cheese, and I found even with this arrangement that a temperature not above 75° could be maintained in the hottest weather, by regulating the wickets and by the use of water upon the floor, which by its rapid evaporation would reduce the heat as desired. By attending to this matter I found that cheese could be preserved in good flavor throughout the season, when the factories and farm dairies about were not able to keep it; and my experiments have convinced me that any temperature above 75° could not be safely allowed for curing cheese, and that with proper attention to temperature, well-made cheese could be cured so as to retain a mild, sweet, nutty flavor for a long period. In my examination of English cheese in 1866, I tasted of samples from one to two years old in which this mild clean flavor had been retained to perfection, and Mr. Harding and others assured me that the preservation of flavor was on account of the curing.

When cheese is properly cured in an even temperature of 70° and breaks down mellow and flakey, it is not so liable to lose flavor afterward, though exposed to higher heat. The great damage from heat seems to result during the first 40 days. In other words, two cheeses from the same vat, the one kept at 70° for 40 days and the other at 90°, and both then subjected to high heat, the first will retain its flavor a much longer time than the other.

MARKETING AND MARKET FAIRS.

Now the knowledge and practice of a good system of dairy farming is very essential to success. To know how to manufacture good butter and good cheese, and to properly cure and pack it, is also of prime importance. But there is something beyond all this which not unfrequently depresses and paralyzes all our best endeavors in dairy management. I refer to a loose and unskillful manner of marketing dairy products. It is quite needless for me to say to you that no farmer, no produce dealer, no business man can conduct operations with success when his necessary expenditures are greater than the receipts. Well directed labor in any department of industry should have an adequate reward, and that it fails to accomplish this end is the result often of some lack of foresight, and consequent mismanagement, on the part of the operator.

The exports of cheese from the United States to Great Britain during the year 1871 were the largest ever made. According to official returns from the custom house, they amounted to 68,732,520 pounds from January, 1871, to January, 1872, or about 12,000,000 pounds more than the previous year. The make of cheese in Canada is estimated to be from ten to fifteen millions of pounds, and the exports are supposed to be eight or nine millions of pounds; if we call it nine millions, the exports of cheese from America to Great Britain during 1871 were about seventy-seven millions of pounds. I can give you the amount of money which Great Britain has paid the United States for cheese, shipped for the years ending July 1st, 1869-70, and July 1st, 1870-71. In 1869-70 England paid us $8,881,934 for 57,000,000 pounds of cheese. In 1870-71, $8,752,990 for nearly 64,000,000 pounds, or about the same amount of money for seven millions more pounds of cheese. If the amounts were compared from January to January, a much greater difference would be shown, because prices from July, 1871, to December 31, 1871, were much lower than in 1870.

The shipments from the United States in the year 1871 were: in July, 12,424,565 lbs.; in August, 11,552,496 lbs.; in September, 10,095,725 lbs.; showing that the half of our exports was in hot weather. You need not be told that the average price of cheese that year (1871) was low. True, there were several circumstances that conspired to bring about a weak state of the market, such as the general decline in the price of all farm products, especially the low rates of bacon and pork; but the chief cause of low prices was the stupid manner in which our cheese is cured, brought forward, and forced upon the markets in hot weather. There is scarcely a factory within my knowledge in New York that is provided with room sufficient to keep the hot-weather cheese. The factories push forward immense quantities of cheese in July and August, not only from the fear that it will lose flavor at the factory, but because there is no room to hold it.

The local dealer who buys is in a hurry to be rid of it, for fear of losses in hot weather. The shipper is also afraid of it, for the same reason; and every one who handles cheese in hot weather is in hot haste to shift responsibility and risk upon some other shoulders than his own. I cannot see how it is possible to sustain high prices under such a condition of things. It is a forced sale from beginning to end, and the law of forced sales is that real values cannot be realized.

The remedy, it is obvious, lies in additional curing-houses at the factory, so constructed that cheese may be held in good order from time to time as desired, and without fear of deterioration or loss of flavor.

It is believed by many that dairymen are to get relief by the abandonment of dairying in some other localities than their own. Thus, dairymen at the east talk of getting relief by the abandonment of dairying at the west, thereby reducing the general make of cheese. I do not think we can look for any permanent benefit in this direction. The business will be developed from year to year in new localities where lands are